Recast Capital, a female-led venture fund that supports budding venture capitalists, has received at least $3.6 million from Melinda Gates' Pivotal Ventures to help women and nonbinary fund managers raise money of their own.
Recast, which has dual offices in D.C. and San Francisco, recently selected a cohort of 36 women and nonbinary fund leaders to participate in its 12-week accelerator program and intends to use the funds from Pivotal Ventures to cover up to $100,000 in expenses for each participant. Two of the participants in the cohort are based in D.C: Dcode Capital, the venture arm of government contracting accelerator Dcode:, and ResilienceVC, which invests in fintech companies.
Recast Capital was founded in 2020 by San Francisco-based Courtney McCrea and D.C.-based Sara Zulkosky to bring more diversity to the VC space by supporting emerging fund managers or people raising their first, second or third VC fund.
McCrea has over two decades of private equity experience, working at Weston Presidio and the Palo Alto, California, boutique venture fund of funds Weathergage Capital. Zulkosky previously worked at the Owings Mills, Maryland-based Greenspring Associates and CNF Investments in Bethesda.
Recast Capital helps diversify the venture landscape by investing money in funds with diverse founders. To complement the venture investment fund, McCrea and Zulkosky started a new accelerator program, Recast Accelerate. The training includes mentoring, executive coaching and networking opportunities with investors, and for the latest cohort it includes $100,000 for expenses that could provide fund managers with additional breathing room while trying to raise funds.
Participants in the latest cohort are diverse in a number of ways. Apart from all being women or nonbinary individuals, 25% are Black, 17% are Latinx, 39% are Asian, 8% are from the LGBTQIA+ community and 36% are first-generation U.S. citizens. More than 80% of the participants are raising funds for the first time and 53% are solo general partners.
In her 10 years at Weathergage Capital as one of three investment managing directors, McCrea said funds with diverse managers generated significant returns for Weathergage. She co-founded Recast to draw more attention to funds led by diverse founders.
As McCrea put it, diverse fund managers see opportunities that “three white heterosexual male, general partners that all went to Stanford," often don't.
“I had the belief that institutional investors needed thoughtful diversified exposure to emerging managers in venture to get the returns they're looking to get out of their venture portfolio."