Wellington Management has allocated millions to fund startups led by underrepresented founders.
This week, Boston-based Wellington Management announced the final close of a new early-stage venture fund, known as Wellington Venture Investments I. The fund has $150 million in commitments.
The investment management giant said the new fund will focus on early-stage companies in growing industries like B2B software, fintech and consumer sectors. The fund will also prioritize finding and supporting founders who have previously been underrepresented in the venture capital space, including Black, Latino and women entrepreneurs, among others.
In 2022, Black startup founders in Massachusetts raised $110 million for their startups. That’s 0.56% of the total $19.5 billion that Massachusetts companies raised last year in venture capital.
The fund is managed by Wellington Access Ventures, the firm’s early-stage venture capital team. Jackson Cummings, head of Wellington Access Ventures, said they aim to help close access and resource gaps to create a more equitable funding ecosystem.
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Cummings said this is Wellington’s first fund focused on underrepresented founders.
“Venture capital is an industry predicated on networks and access. For decades, these networks have not been accessible to entrepreneurs from all backgrounds,” Cummings said in a statement. “From our vantage point, we see this as a market inefficiency and a differentiated opportunity to create value by partnering with ambitious and dynamic founders who, in many cases, have been historically overlooked. Talent comes from all different types of backgrounds, and we plan to focus our efforts on a founder community and opportunity set that has the potential to drive value for decades to come.”
Cummings was previously an investor at Salesforce Ventures, where he worked on or led over 30 investments, including deploying capital to Black and underrepresented founders. He also serves on the board of nonprofit BLCK VC.
Frederik Groce, Sasha McKenzie and Van Jones are also part of the Wellington Access Ventures team.
Wellington Management's startup investments
Wellington is one of the world’s largest investment management firms. In 2022, Wellington made the Business Journal’s list of the top 10 most active venture capital investors in Massachusetts. Wellington was not on the list in 2023.
Cummings said his team has already made 13 investments in private companies from the new fund, including in CodeSee, Movn Health, Kinside, Clerkie, Caraway Health, Meroxa. The fund’s investor base includes insurance companies, health care companies, state plans, international banks, foundations and family offices.
In addition to funding startups, the Wellington Access Ventures team will partner with other diverse-led emerging fund managers to further strengthen and grow the venture ecosystem.
There are a few other venture capital firms in Boston that prioritize funding underrepresented founders, including Mendoza Ventures and Visible Hands. Some other large corporations, including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., have also committed millions to fund diverse-led startups.
