Before Arian Simone stepped on stage, before the announcer said her name, the crowd knew she was coming.
When Simone, CEO and co-founder of Atlanta-based venture capital firm Fearless Fund, finally came out, 200 or so Black businesswomen were already on their feet, cheering and clapping for a woman that for them has become a symbol of the fight against a growing backlash against corporate diversity initiatives.
On Friday afternoon at The Gathering Spot, the women leaders, most of them entrepreneurs, came together for the first of two days of pitch competitions, panels and networking put on by Atlanta-based Fearless Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Fearless Fund.
The Fearless Moguls gathering was as much an event for entrepreneurs of color as it was a statement that the Fearless organizations are continuing their work despite a looming discrimination lawsuit.
When Simone came on stage, she quickly addressed the elephant in the room.
“Do y’all want an update on the court case?” she asked, referring to the lawsuit that has launched her and Fearless Fund into the national spotlight. To that question the women said, “Yes!”
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
On Aug. 2, 2023, the American Alliance of Equal Rights sued Fearless Fund and its foundation over a $20,000 small business grant program the foundation provides to Black women entrepreneurs, alleging it was discriminatory.
Fearless Fund was founded by Black women to invest in women of color. Through its Fund I, Fearless invested $26 million into dozens of startups founded by Black, Latina and Asian women. At least eight of those startups were based in Atlanta, including the hit restaurant concept Slutty Vegan.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
The fund is a for-profit business. Fearless Foundation, its charitable arm, seeks to extend the company’s reach.
The man behind the American Alliance of Equal Rights, conservative activist Edward Blum, had just successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions at the U.S. Supreme Court and then set his sights on private sector targets.
In the year since, both sides have traded legal losses and victories. But in June, in a 2-1 ruling, an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled against Fearless and issued a preliminary injunction against the grant, saying the program causes irreparable harm.
On Friday, Simone suggested a conclusion is near.
“Hopefully all of this will be wrapping up y’all very, very soon,” Simone said Friday. Simone and her representatives declined to comment further to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Blum also declined to comment about the status of the case.
Simone and her team had the option to appeal the 11th Circuit decision to the Supreme Court, but they decided not to because if they lost, the decision would apply to the whole country.
“Our plaintiffs, they were waiting for me to pull that trigger because that’s what they want, and I was like, ‘Oh no,’ I said, ‘I will not shut this down for everybody,’” she told the crowd.
The case has impacted Fearless’ operations. Though the lawsuit did not target the firm’s venture investments, Fearless has not filed any Fund II updates with the Securities and Exchange Commission since the Alliance’s suit, indicating it has not raised any new significant funding. Fearless Foundation’s revenue also dropped to $2.6 million in 2023, nearly 38% less than the year before, according to the nonprofit’s tax filings.
Simone told Inc. magazine in February that all but two of the firm’s corporate partners have backed out in the wake of the lawsuit.
But despite the lawsuit, Simone told the audience gathered at the event that “we are definitely still in business.”
“It’s just one grant program, you guys, that got paused,” she said. “Everything else we do still exists. We are definitely today still in business. We have grants being given out today. We have grants being given out tomorrow. We are still investing at the fund. We have millions we are still deploying right now.”
In 2022, female founders of color received just 0.39% of all venture capital investments, according to Fearless. Historically, Black female entrepreneurs receive a fraction of what other founders get. Between 2009 and 2017, only 0.0006% of venture capital funding went to businesses started by Black women, according to nonprofit advocacy group Digitalundivided.
During a question-and-answer session to kick off the event, Simone gave candid answers to the female entrepreneurs asking for business advice. She even gave one of the attendees the name and phone number of one of her own mentors who has helped multiple entrepreneurs in health and beauty get into retail.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
She also pitched a new funding opportunity to the group — business loans facilitated by Fearless Fund, which range from $5,000 to $250,000 at interest rates starting at 8.49%.
The loans are being offered in partnership with Accion Opportunity Fund, a California-based small business lending nonprofit, according to Jazmin Carr, head of platform at Fearless Fund.
They decided to get into offering loans because “we have grants through the Fearless Foundation. We have investments through Fearless Fund. And there is a middle tier of folks that isn’t the best candidate pool on either side,” Carr told the AJC.
She did not get into the specifics of Fearless’ partnership with Accion but said Fearless is offering access to an alternative funding source for the founders in its network.
Across the two days of the Fearless Moguls event, more than $20,000 in small business grants were given to entrepreneurs of color across pitch competitions for women, men, kids and teens.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Hyacinth Tucker, the Maryland-based founder of laundry delivery company The Laundry Basket LLC, won Friday’s $5,000 pitch competition.
Tucker said she decided to travel from Maryland for the event because she is trying to expand into the Atlanta area. So, when she heard her name called as the winner, she burst into tears.
“If I can get something from this prestigious of an organization, I mean, the sky’s the limit,” Tucker told the AJC.
Another one of the founders who pitched was offered a meeting with Fearless Fund, the first step to a potential venture investment.
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