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students access so mark can just be homework. >> cox, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> up next, a hearing examining the barriers for women and minorities in technology companies. financial tax worse hearing runs run ones over an hour. >> welcome. understand -- i recognize myself or an opening statement. the explosion -- explosion of intech in the last decade has made it possible because of investments that have been made

to start up companies. if companies like on capital to turn their visions into reality. that includes sequoia capital and -- native, responsible for many of our large players. venture capital firms invest in hundreds of companies each year, open to -- hoping that one of these investments will pay off. venture capital firms invest in 35 billion in startups out from 18 billion years prior. there is an obvious trend towards white males while alas of diversity is a trend in almost every industry, it is troubling in the fin tech space where a sin to fix it -- specific number target

communities that are disproportionately women. the largest syntax and cryptocurrency providers market their products to women and people of color. we look at founders and leadership teams, they do not reflect communities that they claim to serve. only 2% of all venture capital funding goes to women. 1% moves -- goes to black founders in less than 2% go to latin founders. is also reflected in the lack of diversity in the venture capital firms. research indicates that investors are more likely to invest in founders that they relate to, the look like them. while may be easy to assume there is a lack of women and color founders, our witnesses will demonstrate there is no shortage of diverse founders

with thoughtful and innovative ideas. they have repeatedly outperformed white male owned startups. measurement and data showed that they earn 30% higher multiples. almost 7% include women in decision-making roles. venture capital firms continue to gamble on poor investments such as celsius. while on the other hand, women and founders of color with well out substances and business plans remain in the waiting room. they are specifically working to address the diversity gaps but it should not solely be on them to pick up the slack.

large venture capital firms need to diversify to reflect this country and serve where they claim to serve. investment should bought -- and not be limited to less when it makes sense to diversify. in the past, advocates have advocated for looser reboot terry arguments, quite frankly, the entrance of retail investors is not the answer. i welcome policy that would push into the -- would push venture

capital to abandon the old boys club culture. the exclusive culture to determine where and who they invest in. as we approached the slowdown in economic growth and venture capital is drying up in some spaces, how will we ensure that women and founders of caller are -- color are not further left out of the space? i think the witnesses that i know from their experience and work that they care deeply about the issue, this issue for their willingness to share their perspectives. i recognize my friend and ranking member mr. davidson for five minutes for his opening statement. >> i would like to welcome all of our witnesses today. we appreciate your time and testimony. the ability to raise capital is

cornerstone of any growing economy. america holds 50% of the world's investment capital. i am concerned that america is losing the edge of my gifts is nearly 25% of global gdp. it has given us the best markets for goods, services, capital, intellectual property, and more. america has dominated the industrial revolutions, computing, internet, and more. as we look at fintech, we see in action by congress and over action by the sec driving capital generation offshore. the liquidity in this space is offshore. we need to look at how do we get more of the capital here in the united states of america even though an of the founders are either americans or operating companies from america. we are seeing that kind of drive. his hearing is timely. we must do all we can to ensure that talent is paired with capital in the united states to

avoid having it migrate elsewhere. the sector broadly speaking and subtracting some of the most brilliant and talented people in this generation. we have seen this industry improve efficiency, decrease costs, increase access for underserved communities, and more. venture capital firms are seeing it and we know that fin tech was the leading sector for venture firms to invest in last year. despite being a popular investment there remains a lack of diverse founders within the industry. the numbers speak for themselves and it important to note that there is a lack of diversity in venture capital firms. not just in terms of race or ethnicity but geographic diversity. a lot of it is concentrated on the coast. i do not think sitting here and criticizing the investors does much to enhance or improve capital formation within the economy. i do think that we have a great discussion to date. it is vital to ask themselves why fin tech founders must be dependent on a capital firms. i think we can agree that this

has had negative consequences. the quarters of venture capital goes to founders in three -- three quarters of venture capital goes to founders in three states, california, massachusetts, and new york, likely contributes to the diverse -- lack of diverse funders that receive funding. due to the geographic concentration and the existing networks. what are the downstream effects? we see founders outside of the tradition or -- traditional locales struggle to raise capital, usually $3 million to $10 million dollars.

we have funding from investors focused on growth and scale. this only compounds the lack of diversity in the long run. republicans have introduced bills that will enhance capital formation so that more minority and women owned the store can get off of the ground some of these ideas include the improving capital allocations for newcomers act from mr. timmons. this bill codifies the recommendation from the fcc small business capital formation advisor committee and what increase the number of investors to help fund and invest in more entrepreneurs in their own community. many of whom are women and minorities. developing our aspiring leaders, this bill would expand the spoke of qualifying investments allowing large funds to deploy more capital to smaller funds. this bill would create a new micro offering exemption to allow broader access to capital for emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses. we have bills to deal with the accredited investor rule which basically says you cannot make investments in these companies unless you have already made a lot of money.

people are people are -- people are barred. this would be one of many remedies we could supply. one of the most important things we could do in this accredited investor space is undone and an issue in congress where it is not in the founder community. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and i are those on the panel who have worked incredibly hard to build successful businesses. with that i yield back. >> at this time i would like to recognize the chairwoman of the full committee, the gentleman from california who has been a longtime advocate and champion for racial and gender equality during her time in congress.

we are delighted to have the full chairwoman of the full committee at miss from california recognized. >> thank you. this is the most important meeting that we are having here today. i thank you so much for your leadership. research shows a companies led by the first senior leadership outperformed those that are led primarily by white and male leaders. venture capital funding and new companies go overwhelmingly to those funded by white men. only 2% of venture capital funding went to women founders. 1% to black founders. 1.8% to black x founders. this can mean the difference between success and failure. we can all benefit from promoting diversity and future

industry leaders. i look forward to hearing from our panel about the challenges that exist in promoting diversity and venture capital funding. i yield back. thank you very much. >> we welcome a panel of distinguished witnesses and we are thankful for their presence. first, we have the ceo and cofounder of alovest. we have a cofounder and ceo of esuzu. we have the founder of black founders matter. we have the founder and managing partner of re-think impact. we have mariam, the executive

director of venture forward. witnesses are reminded that their oral testimony will be limited to five minutes. you should see a timer that indicates how much time you have left. i would ask you be mindful of the timer so that we can be respectful of both your colleagues and witnesses and the committee members time. your written statements have been made part of the record. you are recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. thank you. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify today. i have spent my career on wall street as a cfo, i am a data ceo. we are the financial planning platform for women. a mission to get more money in the hands of women. we are a diverse company.

in an industry in which leadership teams are -- percent women, we are 84%. in an industry in which the leadership teams are 11% people of color, we are 50% with a similarly diverse board. we count among our investors re-think impact represented here today. penny pfb's capital. and women run angel investing groups like this. we have completed a $53 million capital raise, making us the very rare woman run fintech to reach the milestone. we have gone over the numbers but they are worse than you say. 1% of fintech dollars, that means you can count women run fintechs on your fingers. the good news is that there is

an influx of capital in early-stage funding. some specifically targeted the represented founders. the bad news, this is not translated into later stage funding. it can be capital-intensive. in my experience it is because few women investors are enrolled to write bigger checks and because this is a pretty guarded, raising early-stage capital can sometimes make it harder for women ceos to get the next round of funding. as research indicates this is poor bias on the assumption that you are not good enough to get funding from the guys. women run businesses provide as good or better result than all mill teams. the implication is significant given that financial services

are our economy's lifeline. i will give you a thought experiment. do you think it is a coincidence with a 98% of mutual fund assets managed by men and 86% of financial advisors being men that women report they are not well served by the industry. or that when i was running merrill lynch, and then trusted their financial advisor more than their doctor. women closed their account after their spouse's death. is it an coincidence that we are the only wealth tech app with was of the downloads by women at about 95%. versus the 20% and 30% for the others? this is not because women are not good at math or do not like to invest more they are risk-averse. there is zero evidence of that. it is a story we tell ourselves to explain why women are not engaging. the issue is that few companies focus on women's needs. it is because women entrepreneurs start a funding. your constituents invest less of their money, losing out on market returns and causing them hundreds of thousands of

dollars. for some, millions of dollars over their lives. this is why the gender wealth gap is at 32 cents for a white man's dollar. some of your women constituents are not a toxic relationship that they cannot leave, dead and drops that they cannot quit, they do not have the money. i do not think any of us want that for our daughters. it also blocked economic growth. the dollar is not spent on small businesses in your hometown. the political contribution is not made. that is be clear, the solution is not for women are norse to work harder. 2% of venture builds means there is 50% more investor meetings and earnings models. 50% more time away from the business. we got here by doubling and tripling down on the women, raising some of our realms through special-purpose vehicles.

often sponsored by the minute investors. they got access to a later stage deal in a strongly performing intact that they would not have otherwise have. a win win, 70% plus have new investors from underrepresented groups. unheard of at our stage. we live to fight another day, working to get more money in the hands of women. >> thank you. next, you're recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation. >> thank you so much. members of the committee, a thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today. i want to express my deepest gratitude to the staff for your tireless effort.

i am the cofounder and co-ceo of harlem based companies. this is one of the few black owned fintech start ups in the world to be valued at a billion dollars. when i started in the slums in nigeria i lost my father at the age of two, my mother, and my sister raised mate. in 2009 i migrated to -22 degrees in minnesota. my mother and i will try -- and turned away from major banks because we do not have a credit score. my mother pawned my father's wedding ring and borrowed money from church members to afford my first year of college. i cofounded esusu.

your financial identity should never determine where you end up in the world. credit is fundamental to find stability and upward mobility. financial exclusion makes american dreams unattainable for millions. and it released by the consumer protection bureau confirmed that approximately 45 million americans are credited as unsupportable. americans spend an average $1100 in rent, over $1.44 trillion annually. that is their largest expense. over 90% of renters do not get credit for paying rent on time. leading to financial exclusion. this helps bridge the gap by reporting on payments to the three credit bureaus, helping renters establish and improve credit scores. this would help them unlock quality financial products. when renters encounter hardship and cannot afford to pay rent we

also pay them with their interest microloans to keep them and their families in their homes. investments and never spent text, according to forbes, u.s. contact is a combined $162 billion. in 2021, a venture capital investment reached $35 billion. what male led start ups received over a 70% of investments compared to 1% for black founders. this fact shined a light on the realities of investments in fintech landscapes. i offered three thoughts on what obstacles persist.

people stay with people that they know it. it is 5% of patient investors are women or black venture capitalists. they understand the mission and generate unrealized return from being with us since day one. due to the implicit or unconscious bias, many investors do not consider people of color to be entrepreneurs. i spoke to 326 investors before we had a one bit on us. investors struggle to relive the problems that we seek to solve. our personal experience is to be under banked. they are likely to be less of

interest to them. i would recommend asking institutions under the purview of the committee to implement solutions. create tax incentives to establish banks and credit bureaus to work with and adopt technologies developed by minority owned startups. create tax incentives established by venture capitalists to place investments that minority and immigrant startups. tax regulation services sectors engage in minority owned startups so that founders can share their perspectives and challenges. i believe investing in a minority for tech companies can generate outsized returns and have profound impacts on many. the company funded by the sons of immigrants is valued at $1 billion. our story is only possible -- if you want to go fast, you go alone. if you want to go far, you go

together. working together to make the union more perfect. let us keep trying. thank you. >> you have a remarkable story. we have mr. michelle, you are now recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. >> thank you. i am the founder of the black founders matter find, i am an passionate advocate and it is my honor to share my thoughts and observation on this timely matter. much like the illegal end of slavery and the racial integration and affirmative action, our society needs accountable methods to facilitate positive change. you see how -- we have not -- i am nervous. it is nerve-racking.

even though we have seen these put into place in our society they have not created parity for all of us. it has pushed social progress forward. we need measurable intentionality to be able to do that. what i am asking that you consider is holding a venture investment accountable to finally integrate in a meaningful way. we have nothing integration in this state. have been many empty vows to improve the statistics we see, however there has been no significant movement or bringing founders into their portfolios. this month, i decided to take action. i launched the pledge for venture funds to make a real and measurable commitment to change. this pledge entailed investing 25% of the current fund in a

startup led by bipoc women and to hire within their funds 25% bipoc women as well. when you do see change in the space and representation both in the portfolio and also within the firm itself. this was done with the clear objective for all people to work towards. we will not see any change. technology culture had weakened our economy and limited the solution that the first founders are creating. the important connection to that is that our lived experiences that have diverse patterns are able to bring to the companies that they create and have their communities in focus on creating such products and services. in my experiences, i have

learned the importance of what you have to be intentional. after making the first five investments from our front i realize we had only made investments in black men. he made an effort to only the deals bite black women. this led to some of the biggest deals were able to get into, invest in olympic legends, and other incredible women. we were able to invest alongside the serena williams and this came from making a concerted effort to focus on female founders. our communities have little choice in the financial institutions and companies that serve us. fintechs who target our communities without connections is a form of financial manipulation. without any accountability, it will continue to occur. we have seen women prove themselves to be more capable

and yield higher returns and should increase interest in such ventures. working with founders exists outside of the comfort zone for these funds. these funds have a benchmark based on what they already know and what already exists. when you bring in the founder, parking problem solving from a different direction, it does not benchmark with them. much like when cities and municipalities realize what a revitalized district and neighbor puts in, they provide incentives to attract investment. i agree with my previous speaker around creating incentives in order to bring more investment specifically to founders of caller and also to emerge find mine -- emerging fund managers are working to solve this gap specifically. we have seen there are more emerging funds and a specific

focus on the missed opportunities. these funds the more capital and investors and an incentive to bring them altogether. are there ways to incentivize funds to focus on the gap? is there money to be created for emerging funds? i believe that it takes multiple approaches to tackle the disparity. this committee is esteemed, there are policies that will transform not only what can happen now but for generations to come. creating metrics for funds, funding for emerging funds that are focused on the space and incentivizing investment in these funds will push the needle forward. what makes our country remarkable is the ability to push forward and continue to grow. >> we have missed abramson -- missed abramson.

welcome. >> welcome and the esteemed member of the task force, as the managing partner of re-think impact, the largest venture capital fund in the u.s. investing in female and non-binary ceos, i am honored to be here with you today. to give you a brief context, before i became a venture capitalist i was a technology ceo. the only woman on a given state. as a data nerve from stanford i researched the numbers and learned the only 2.3% of venture dollars into female founded teams that year. what shocked me about this was that my own mother ran the first venture capital fund investing in female leaders 25 years ago and a percentage of dollars going to female founders actually went down since then. i decided the best way to change the pattern was to start a fund that could drive institutional

dollars into female technology ceos and my partner or for management to get the abounding -- backing of university endowments and prominent individuals. with that in mind i will address three key areas. i answer a lot of advertisement tech companies -- why is there a lack of female led companies? people assume the issue is a pipeline issue. our firm reviews 600-1000 startups each year and we like many funds only need to invest in a handful. the real reason that the divers ceos do not get these dollars relays the fact that women confer parole a very small percentage of the 330 billion venture capital dollars spent last year.

broadly speaking, 86% of investment decision-makers are men. given that venture capital is very much a pattern matching business investors often back companies and people who are most like themselves. tobit has only exacerbated this problem. diverse founders had a challenging time breaking into long-standing funding networks by shutting down live events and in person meetings made this worse. during covid, despite an increase in venture capital funding, investment in female credit companies went to the lowest levels since 2016. the current economic downturn is being -- disproportionally felt by diverse founders. investment in female credit companies dropped by 34%. what is the most financial opportunity from this? venture capital opportunity cost from withholding investment to diverse founders may be forced

$4 trillion. there are a better financial outcomes including 30% higher multiple fund invested capital when companies are required to go public and when you couple that with the fact that women drive 70-80% of consumer purchasing decisions and both women and men and people of color experience inequalities that many are tackling, including groups in leading event tech -- in fintech. how do we reverse these trends? when are unaware of this information. we must share individual success stories that bring this data to life. four examples include candidly which is tackling the $1.67 trillion debt crisis through a financial wellness platform. an innovative model of 401(k)s for a working americans.

i democratized the nation -- a a platform for working with females. we are working with just as many female entrepreneurs as male once great we must find ways to enable a more diverse set of leaders to make investment decisions. they have the power to change that. data shows the new and developing fund managers often are more diverse rank as some of the best performers. it is great for consumers, investors and our economy. i started this testimony by sharing my mom's experience 25 years ago. while the numbers have not improved my would like to believe that the people in the room are making sure we are not sitting in here repeating

the testimony. thank you. >> thank you. >> chairman, waters, ranking member davison and mchenry, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the important topic of diversity equity inclusion in the ecosystem. i am the founding executive director of venture forward. we focus on diversifying and empowering to help the industry reach its full potential. i want to start by taking a brief history. this is evident from a body of data. female constituted 60% of

invested partners in 2020, up 11% in 2016, little progress in the equitable representation, who represented 3%. this data highlights the importance of intersectionality and why venture forward --. while the percentage of investors of women have decreased, percentage in women of color has not appeared in the statistics are connected in a survey to track and measure the industries progress. three states specifically, california, massachusetts, new york account for 84% for aware -- management are based. how did we get here? a risky long-term investment and the likelihood of success is low.

investors provide capital for high-growth innovative start ups. actively engages with the founder of businesses. these equity investors are dealing with -- until a company reaches eight liquidity invest, which could happen a decade after the first investment. bp investors raise funds from woman and partners, such as pensions. it also has to commit. for someone without financial security or personal wealth, but connections to wealth or limited partners, the barrier for entry for someone starting their own fund could be high. it could take years to realize appeared existing firms tend to be smaller. low turnover, which means there is also few available opportunities for new ventures. limited access to education and investors relying on existing

networks and relationship. what is ventured forward doing about this? as easy from the data, woman, people of color and investors are underrepresented. venture forward mission is to change that. we focus on the investor base because investors can where and how capital is deployed in founders. the data shows more diversity among tech writers leads to more investors investing capital. we -- 360 scholarships to in inspire investors. 190 scholarship recipients with a mentorship program and facilitated more than 500 meetings for 175 underrepresented to managers to

meet with partners and experience for office hours. there are some reasons for optimism. the democratic composition have you investment professionals reflects greater diversity, which suggests in more diversified length for tomorrow in your advisors. there has also been a wider adoption of firm strategy, we collected this data through the survey i mentioned. achieve greater, gender and racial diversity amongst investors. the potential to unlock innovation, unlike opportunities for greater economic impacts and unlock better financial performance for the industry. thank you again for your time and attention on this important topic. as you can see from the data, they are still much work to be done.

venture forward remains committed to its leadership roles on this issue. i am happy to take any questions you may have. thank you. >> thank you. i want to thank all of the witnesses for your wonderful testimony. there's a real dichotomy here, it is ironic that in an industry in an area where we see so much -- the velocity of change of thin tech, it is just unmatched. you see the enormous change, the information that is going on in that space. that is on the technical side. you look at the social side, and we are at a standstill. you know both, miss hoch and mr. michelle have pointed out, exceedingly small numbers of women and people of color, people of color actually working at high levels.

i want to ask, we have a similar problem going on this committee for over 20 years. we had a grave problem in the mortgage and banking area. one of our solutions -- it was only a partial solution. it seemed to work in some regard. with the banks, we adopted a protocol under the community reinvestment act. what we did in part, we gather data on the banks, we looked at the investments they were making in minority areas and we graded them publicly. and held them accountable so that there depositors and investors would know how they were doing with progress in investing in areas that were usually redlined. that explosion -- exposure did a

lot. it did not fix everything, it certainly moved the needle. it made banks more socially aware of their actions and their investments. i think it calls the general public and investors and depositors to get on those banks and judge banks based on how they were graded in that regard. is there a role for that -- would it help, i am thinking of legislation that we would offer to the fcc to say, can we build a scorecard question mark a report card on the capital firms and great them with how they are meeting that goal -- social goals that we would like to see those firms obtained. how many people of color? how many lgbtq founders?

how many women are now the object of their support? i am also disappointed in some regards where there is so little information at the very beginning of some of the startups, simply a white paper. the substance is very thin on some of these ventures. yet, those are getting funding because of relationships with fintech, while black founders, people of color, lgbt q founders come are going to different meetings to try to get the same level of support. i am just wondering if we make that public, that scorecard, is that something that might help?

i know you have had some experience in this area. i wonder how you would feel about that? >> i think more information and more sunshine is always a positive thing. people can choose what to do with the information once they receive it. i do know in -- i did try to go to the original source, such as endowment foundations. they seem to truly believe in the power of diversity. they tend to put there funds in managed vehicles. if we were able to do this we could still give them information that could help them direct our capital in the direction they want to. >> any thoughts? >> yes. you bring up a very important point from a disclosure standpoint.

on wall street we measured our stock market platform on a quarterly basis. we look at what is going on in the dow, s&p 500. if we start implementing metrics and holding the investors accountable and saying diversity matters, we are taking a step further. or looking at your board members, your executives. let us when we start changing -- that is when we start changing. where going to be causing the gap. >> may i add one quick point to that? >> data is a powerful thing, but the fund level, one other idea could supplement that would to do it at the women and partner level, the institutions that are investing. and to do and report card to see

where their dollars are going in terms of diversity. given how much that diversity of the fund level determines who gets the dollars at the fintech. >> thank you very much. i now yield for mr. davidson for his questions. i appreciate the opening testimony for the witnesses. i am impressed with the business that you and your cofounders have built. congratulations for identifying such an important mission to establish a more credit reporting system. i would be interested in your perspective, in terms of how your own lived experience healthy identified the problem and have you solve it. >> thanks a lot. it really onboard by your kind words. when my mother and i came to

america, we do not have a credit score. to create a product that will create a win-win. it is one that does not point fingers. the residence when you're in society --. what really perturbed me, when you pave your mortgage, that data is reflected in your credit card. when you pay rent, that data is not usable. that is what let us to be in the billion-dollar business. i think we still have a long way to go. my grandmother always says, you have to do the dog house before you do the white house. >> thank you for sharing your

story. congratulations on your success. i am so thankful for the country that i got to experience. thank you for coming here and making a difference and helping solve problems for a lot of people. for a personal view, fundamentally you just had a really big idea to solve a problem. i'm glad that you found the capital. thanks for your persistence in doing it. miss hawk, you have focused on having people find capital in your own path. would you describe how adventure forward the industry is taking initiative to address? some of the broad issues from a broad perspective. one of freshwater smyth my the initiatives that you have seen address of the witnesses testimony today?

>> thank you for the question. a few programs that we have found to help smooth the needs of the industry. i briefly alluded to. what we recognize, a few years back -- is not a pipeline problem. the industry, because it has traditionally gotten smaller. if you do not know someone from the industry are live within a few miles, the recognition of the venture capital could be hard. that initially is the barrier we felt like we could play a role to scale some of that education broadly. -- has now grown over the past four years.

inspiring investors are across the country come to this program. many of them are unrepresented. we do not want the education information --. we recognize that education is not enough until we added additional elements of making sure investors in today's industry have a mentorship program, scholarship program that would be offered and underrepresented to conspire across the country. 50% women, 60% south side of california, massachusetts, new york. only 5% identified as lgbtq. >> thanks for the background. i would say i have seen a lot of diversity in the industry, personally have been involved extensively try to push

legislative clarity for this thing. they have embodied me numerous times to speak with them. of course they are focused on women. though i a lot of white males in the industry, mail emanated. it is also encouraging to see in terms of certain areas of the middle east. i look forward to providing clarity for the united states. a lot of liquidity is moving out of the economy because congress has not taken action. i look forward to the rest of the testimony. >> the chair now recognizes the lady from california. >> thank you very much.

mr. michelle, venture capital investments in 2021, we -- over 35 billion last year. most of the investment had been towards white male companies. companies with diverse leadership, specifically was more than one gender or one race, but ethically represented. a more innovative and i can make more money. anyone race do most worse. i assume that -- but it seems that ignoring clear data. why do you think this is the case and what in ways we can have businesses with a fair shot in receiving venture capital

fund. >> thank you. such a -- question. connected somehow venture capital evaluates companies. there is this thing i am benchmarking. in an industry that has been built with probably dumped predominately white male culture, how to find a benchmark with someone that i know. someone that i was floored. someone in already my social network. these are -- that and up locking out people of color, women because they do not benchmark.

bonds like mine have emerged to gaps like these, to ensure that there is funding that is very specifically going to certain communities. it is really about the fact that there is an immense need for more funds and more harmony that are focused on closing the debt gap. i do agree with what -- said about having a for metrics. it is really transparent. when it comes to their staff from within, and when it comes to their portfolio. but also it is important to create more funding structures to go to find managers. >> let me interrupt you for a minute here. when you talk about benchmarking, if you will have

venture capital companies that in the leadership have never met, interacted with, no? it is coming to believe that we are not doing entrepreneurs anyway. how do you deal with that kind of idea to? >> you are talking about how important it is and we are talking about how important it is. if they do not have people who are making decisions that are inclusive and interested in diversity, because they do not know anything about the cultures . they have never been in black communities. they have never seen young black businesses that work very hard to be successful. how do you overcome that? i wasn't the founder who was experiencing this. >> i was the first founder

experiencing this. i am the first generation american. i was the founder who started my own company. i was being ran around by venture capital. it is important for funds to have representation within. it is also hard for the black founder to trust. >> in terms of how we take a look at birds, i'm in the people of color do you have in your firm in leadership? in addition to how many? we are going to try to do everything we can. we thank you for being here today and the others who are giving us some ideas about what we can do. we are going to work very hard to open up this opportunity.

thank you, for allowing me time today to interact with your most important subject. >> thank you. thank you for spending time with us. i really appreciate your leadership. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin for his questions. >> we have talked about different ways of diversity and impacting us in the financial services sector. we continue to really see vc funds building up in san francisco, austin. summer in wisconsin, some of your probably dealing with the heat. geographic diversity.

if i read your resume correctly, i am -- you are from the great city of mississippi, is that accurate? >> i am. the first 18 years in my life. >> do you know a lot of people in the -- from mississippi and similar states. i have that one venture fund manager that stays in mississippi. he speaks to why i am so very -- of this topic. understand that venture capital is a applicable career opportunity as a investor what specific program that we have a lot of interest and success with in the universe we live, where we have partnered with universities across the country.

we had chapel hill to hold these types of workshops. it just provides more education on the nuts and bolts and how it works. i do think that we would have to be from a positive aspect of the pandemic, talent across the country. i think it is important to think about how -- local capital, not just the early-stage capital. but really handle the later stage. >> i appreciate it. i totally agree. when we look at what happened, the impact of that solid dating capital and some of our city's largest, san francisco. at think it is a detriment up some of our smaller communities.

i think it is something we will have to explore appeared you re. think about the way that early stage of -- they are probably an active role in the folio is different than passive investors. in the way that these investors actively mentor in these early stages, how do you see the importance of that early-stage mentorship in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. ? >> a founder had this idea. the investors are working with founders per day one to help provide economic bidens. hire employees. they are really helping and working actively with that fund

manager to build this business from the ground up. i do think there's a lot of this active management that has been -- business model and central investors have multiple founders in their portfolio. the venture firm is typically sized with six employees. an alignment of interest for those investors to see the government in the capital. limit the regulatory burdens of some of our early-stage coming in. take a look with these growth companies with amazing potential. great entrepreneurial.

-- to be entering the space if you look at the regulatory burden often. mr. chairman, i will yield back. >> thank you mr. style. the chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman for florida -- from florida with five minutes for his question. mr. lawson, you are now recognized? mr. lawson: good afternoon to everyone. i would like to welcome all of the panel. this has been a great discussion. my question is going to be, senate for the whole town, what i heard this morning is very interesting about what we are saying. the first question, restrict the

type of investors who can gain access to private invest in opportunity, including venture capitals. the requirements for a credit investor -- investor must have particular high income, a whole wealth of at least $1 million. only around 10% of the household in the u.s. to meet this threshold, how do we balance the -- four investors risking.

>> thanks a lot for that question. when we think about getting everyone involved, i do strongly believe that the balance -- we need to have the right disclosures to make sure folks know what they are getting themselves to. then risk-management investments are strictly risky. making sure we have those and clear about the kind of investment and the vehicles. this will be more helpful. limit certain things like credit check, investors. more people engage from an investment standpoint. we need to just be very balanced in our approach. we are one of the rare cases where we could have a billion-dollar business.

you can lose everything. we just want y'all to balance the approach. >> i would like to add to that. i think this is also a question of bail. if we are talking about the population and their ability to invest in this. it is risky. we have seen a lot of in recent years for crowdfunding, our communities will come together and put together -- fear usually the general population is excluded. their rate for entry is so high. play the check for 50 k, 100 k, $1 million. i had the opportunity where people do not have as much to be able to put into are still able

to participate in the return that can come from investing and venture capital. an opportunity to feel what that amount is so people are not --. >> i would quickly add, yes we can ask -- to lower the minimum. it is something we did. it will allow investors from 39 states to invest. companies like yellow vest, who give a investors opportunity to take part. but are aligned to the broader investment properly or and to what they can actually do by lowering risks as well. not to exclude the event individual, but buckets of investment.

>> i will chime in. i think you may be trying to run when we are trained to carl a little bit. when i think of -- crawl. today they have the majority of their money. remains in cash. now with inflation means they are going backward. we are focused on how to make sure they are investing it to earn the returns before they get into the higher risk venture type of investing. >> my time is running out. those are some great answers. i yield back about the million dollars outside of the residence. >> and a lot of value today. i yield back. >> i think the gentleman. at this point, i would like to offer to my colleague, mr.

davison from ohio if he had any closing remarks as we conclude this hearing? thank you. >> thank you. thanks to our witnesses, i am appreciative there is a diverse group of people here. you have all been successful. i think the strength of america, we have been able to attract people from around the world your do think we should celebrate the fact that in a normal year we would bring about one million americans in our country legally every year. we have challenges but i look forward to -- and i hope that we can do that in the state by providing some clarity. we are seeing real challenges for keeping the ideal inside united states of america because we have not provided clarity for a large portion of this market.

i hope we can do that for a walk, run, let's start moving. i appreciate collaborating with you chairman. they q so much -- thank you so much for the witnesses and i yield. >> thanks for your kind words. this is a very timely hearing. we see what is happening in the ddc space through a certain entrenchment -- d.c. space through a certain entrenchment. founders of color and women founders, we do not want to see you go. the situation grow even worse for them and it to i-8 economy. we are appreciative of the perspectives that were provided by the witnesses today.

i think might result in legislation at some point. i would like to thank our witnesses. without objection, all members will have five days to submit additional questions. formal witnesses, through the chair which will be forwarded to the witnesses or their response. please respond as promptly as you are able if you do receive questions. all members will have five days to submit materials. i remind members that written questions and materials for the record should recement into the email address provided. that concludes our hea maurice johnston -- boris johnston testifies. he is expected to discuss the

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>> next discussion about providing high-speed internet to libraries across the u.s. with the chair of the fcc jessica rosenworcel. she talks about the impact of the pandemic on education and the need for broadband internet. she spoke during an interview at the library associations conference. >> now i would like to introduce you to our opening speaker federal communications commission acting chairwoman jessica rosenworcel. fcc chairwoman jessica rosenworcel works to promote greater opportunity affordability, and order to ensure all americans get a fair shot at 21st century success. from f