StartOut is the largest national organization to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs with over 17K members nationwide. Its mission is to increase the number, diversity, and impact of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and amplify their stories to drive the economic empowerment of the community. In July 2020, they used PitchBook data and worked with Socos Labs to launch the StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index (SPEII).
San Francisco, California
Andres Wydler
Executive Director,
StartOut
Jessica Chin Foo
StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index™ Manager,
StartOut
2009
Year founded
Nonprofit organization
Based in San Francisco, StartOut works to illuminate the existing and potential involvement of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs to help measure economic impact and highlight investment opportunities. While the LGBTQ+ community has gained representation and visibility in many fields in recent years, there is a lack of transparency on the true impact of this community and its place within the overall U.S. entrepreneurial environment.
Enrich its systems and proprietary
indexes with direct access to
pre-defined private market data
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the fundraising environment.
To help raise visibility, StartOut created its StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index (SPEII), which seeks to quantify both the current and potential impact of “out” high-growth LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs on the US economy overall. The SPEII is meant to address gaps in what has been a historically underreported area for an underrepresented community.
StartOut collaborated with Socos Labs, a think tank and incubator, to map the unfulfilled potential of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs at high-growth startups and to identify regions where more resources could have a significant economic impact. Using details on company founders, industry, location, funding history, and exits, the index sheds light on how equal access to capital and other resources could bolster local economies.
“Our real-time insights provide a benchmark for different regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in terms of jobs created, funding received, patents granted and company exits, and allows for comparisons with diverse founders.”
—Andres Wydler, Executive Director, StartOut
To bring this company-level data into its systems, StartOut uses PitchBook’s data feed offering. Making up the core dataset for the index, these data points are refreshed regularly so everything stays timely and relevant.
Based on data provided by PitchBook, StartOut found that over the last 20 years:
- LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs raised $13B in funding. San Francisco, a traditional hub for both entrepreneurship and LGBTQ+ culture, accounted for $5.7B or 43% of that funding. Funding LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in the rest of the country is thus a major growth and investment opportunity.
- Over two of every three U.S. metro areas with at least 50 high-growth entrepreneurs did not show a single one who identifies as LGBTQ+, which presents major growth opportunities for these metro areas.
- Women entrepreneurs raised $150B in funding while they could have potentially achieved $440B.
This information is also presented through an interactive visual dashboard that helps illustrate geographic trends and key funding details, as well as representation and achievement gaps that could be addressed.
“PitchBook is a well-known and trusted source of data when it comes to coverage for US entrepreneurship, funding and operations.”
—Jessica Chin Foo, StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index™ Manager,
StartOut
In addition to its SPEII initiatives, StartOut also serves as an accelerator/incubator that aims to help aspiring LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs grow and expand their existing businesses.
More about StartOut
StartOut offers a full suite of programs to support growth entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed. They include a 6-month accelerator program for the most promising LGBTQ+ high growth entrepreneurs, mentorship with over 700 matches to date, an investor portal with close to 300 investors and expert sessions to address specific challenges.
The organization also offers safe spaces to connect, through an online networking tool and an active event schedule nationwide (and currently virtually) where members and supporters can learn, network and enhance their business through education and training sessions, workshops, panels and classes required in the startup space.
Socos Labs and StartOut is inviting all U.S. founders to get counted in the Inclusion Impact Indexes survey. Entrepreneurs help create many jobs and make an enormous contribution and the study looks at entrepreneurs’ economic impact in terms of job creation, patents, financings, and exits. Data from this important Diversity & Inclusion survey provides important insights on contributions and unrealized potential.
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