Smart Investment Strategy: Invest in Diversity

Two days ago, on January 6, 2016, Pinterest announced that the company hired its first Head of Diversity. Last year, Twitter announced goals of improving diversity amongst into workforce and that it was taking steps to reduce bias in its job postings and Intel Capital launched a $125M fund to focus on female and underrepresented minority entrepreneurs.

Diversity is an important item on the agenda of major technology companies and it’s also important to us at Pique Ventures and how we invest at Pique Fund.

Leadership Diversity is critical not only for exceptional economic outcomes, but also the thrivability and sustainability of our communities. That is why Leadership Diversity is one of Pique Fund’s key investment themes.

Pique Fund aims to invest in at least 3 women-led ventures for every 4 companies we invest in and so far we’re exceeding this goal.

Our first four portfolio companies are all people-focused social technology companies led by very strong women CEOs.

Catherine Dahl is CEO of Beanworks, a company that is automating workflow in accounting, which is an industry where there tends to disproportionately be more women in accounting clerical roles and fewer at senior decision-making levels. Catherine is making the lives of accountants better and is doing so with Beanworks’ technology. Catherine is also committed to building a technology company with a female workforce of at least 50%.

Childcare and family care decisions and responsibilities fall mainly on women to manage and when there are not easily accessible and affordable care options, women often opt out of the workforce. MyBestHelper, led by Alexandra Greenhill, began with making it easier for working families to find care they can trust. With their latest product, myCrew, Alexandra and the MyBestHelper team want to reduce the stress experienced by modern families trying to manage busy work/life schedules and get the help they need from their network or care providers.

These are two of the companies in the Pique Fund that are tackling business and life challenges from a different perspective.

Find out how you can join me and other investors in Pique Fund and benefit from investing in companies like these.

If you’re interested in investing in the growth, impact, and in Leadership Diversity of early-stage companies in BC, sign up to the Pique Ventures newsletter to receive information about the impact investment opportunities, products, and services we offer.

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Pique Ventures helps investors make an impact by integrating the critical information investors need to make effective, risk-managed decisions. We manage Pique Fund (Pique Venture Investments (VCC)) and also provide products and services such as deal origination, venture evaluation, due diligence, and fund development.

Pique Fund is an impact investment fund where you can make a difference with your investment dollars, in the company of other like-minded people. You can also read more about Pique Fund here .