Women are making real progress in venture capital, and the numbers prove it

A new report by the nonprofit All Raise found that the percentage of women and nonbinary individuals in partner roles at leading firms has doubled in the past few years, despite market headwinds. All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner chatted with TechCrunch’s Dominic-Madori Davis about what’s driving the shift on this week’s Equity. 

“There are two pieces to it,” she said of the progress being made for women. She said much of it is to do with firms looking to become more efficient and are looking to internally promote the best people within their firms. The second part is that firms realize the benefit of having a more diverse set of voices at the decision-making table. “One, folks got in the door, and then number two, people were able to perform,” she continued.

But there is still much work to be done. Compensation, for one, is still an issue. Also, megafirms, those managing more than $10 billion in assets, still do not have many women in those top partner roles. 

“It takes time to change,” she said. 

Luckily, it looks like good news is already on the way. 

Listen to the full episode to hear: 

• How investors are responding to the current DEI backlash
• The impact that women starting their own firms are having on the industry 
• What progress All Raise hopes to see in the next five years 

Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned. 

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. 

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