Data Shows Chicago Startups Making Progress in Increasing Diversity

Published on Friday, January 22, 2021

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation partnered with Chicago:Blend, an organization dedicated to bringing diversity to the Chicago business sector, to compile data on Chicago’s increasing diversity in startups. Findings were presented in a virtual town hall event on Tuesday, January 12 (view recording below).

Looking at 112 startups, all of which were backed by one or more Chicago VC firms, the data shows an increase in Black and Latinx workers and women in Chicago startups. In 2020, 38.9% of staffers were women, while in 2019 it had been 32.7%. Latinx workers doubled, going from 7.2% in 2019 to 15.5% in 2020. Black workers were 6.9% in 2020, up from 2019’s 5.3%.

Chicago’s venture capital and startup ecosystems have long had difficulty with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Speakers at the event saw the data as proof that the diversity initiatives put forth by Chicago were working.

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