Seae Ventures “Widens the Funnel” for Founders, Funders and More

The venture capital industry is one, “where adoption of the model plays an important role,” according to Jason Robart, co-founder and Managing Partner of Seae Ventures. He believes that, when venture capitalists are looking for investments, they want to look for those they know and care about, including those they were with in college, high school, and early careers. investment.

However, those areas remain the same. For example, as of 2021, women made up about 58% and racial and ethnic minorities made up about 44% of four-year college freshmen. For full-time MBAs, however, women drop to 41% and ethnic minority groups to 37%.

Those divisions continue to widen in investment activities. In investment banking, only 25% of analysts are women and 32% are non-white. In the private sector, only 35% of total jobs are held by women and about 27% belong to ethnic or minority groups. And, in financial companies, Seae’s target, only 11% of financial partners are women and 14% are minority groups. For venture capital directly, white men represent only 38.1% of the US population but control 98% of the assets under the control of venture capital.

Seae Ventures, however, aims to disrupt this widespread recognition and diversify those who are getting investment – and those who are investing first.

Seae invests in early stage health technology and service companies founded by various entrepreneurs. Mr. Robart and Tuoyo Louis, the two founding partners of the firm, worked together at Zaffre Investments: the corporate ventures arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. In 2018, the two left Zaffron, joined forces, and started Seae a year later, in 2019. As Mr. Robart said, he and Mr. Louis had two principles that guide: they wanted to find a solution for the vulnerable and neglected population and they wanted to do that. find founders who have traditionally been underserved and overlooked. Those two focus groups have had different relationships, including women, ethnic minorities, low-income people, and those living in rural areas.

For example, women-led companies received only 1.8% of venture capital funding by 2023. This percentage has remained stubbornly around 2% for the past five years, however, as Mr. Robart said, “You can’t tell me that. 50% of the population has only 2% of all the good ideas”. Companies founded by black people – regardless of the founder’s gender – received only $ 0.75B or 0.48% of all business funds made in 2023. Mr. Robart noted that Black founders saw an increase in funds from 2020 to 2021 after the killing of George Floyd; they received $1.6B in 2020 and $4.9B in 2021 but their funding has declined since then. And, even at their peak in 2021, these founders received only 1.4% of venture capital funding Latino, they still only raise 2% of the total venture capital every year, and Latina and Black female founders combined raised a little more than 1% – after clearing the 1% mark a few years ago: in 2021.

If venture capital shares were proportional to population last year, Black founders would have received about $22B since about 14% of the US population is Black and the money more than $170B in venture capital invested by 2023. $85B, and Latino founders would have received nearly $32B – or 19%. As Mr. Robart sums up, these founders have “unique business plans”, but are still unable to “raise capital and drive the promise and growth of their solutions”.

Unlike traditional venture capital, Seae supports a diverse range of founders, including – but not limited to – those who have historically been overlooked, underrepresented, and underfunded. In fact, 75% of Seae’s portfolio companies are led by BIPOC and 44% are led by women.

And, in turn, the founders and companies that Seae supports can help the underserved, the underrepresented, and the underserved — and thus achieve another goal of Mr. Robart and Mr. Louis. Seae’s airline Tia is one example. Tia is a health clinic for women, allowing them to receive their own care for physical, mental and reproductive health. As Mr. Robart said, “the health care system has, in fact, not served women well”, but Tia “provides the care that clients and patients want”.

Similarly, Cayaba Care “works with its community”, in the words of Mr. Robarts, to provide pre- and post-natal care, especially to women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: where k the company is based there and where about 40% of the population is. Black. Cayaba Care’s services – which aim to address issues such as breastfeeding, mental health and postpartum needs, which can help women find relief from symptoms, pain and stress and anxiety – are for black people , brown and high risk. motherhood. Across the United States, the maternal mortality rate for Black mothers is 2.5 times higher than that of white women. In Philadelphia specifically, it’s about 4x higher.

However, the impact of Seae companies goes beyond addressing women’s health. One of its investments, Movn Health, is a heart care business. After a cardiac event, such as a heart attack or heart attack, about 60% of patients are referred to cardiac rehab, but, as Mr. Robart said, only 15% go. to rehabilitate and only half of that number – 8. % – actually complete their rehab process. About 80 percent of Americans can’t even get heart treatment, which is usually done three times a week for 12 weeks, primarily because of the high cost, long duration of waiting, accessibility, and transportation problems. And these factors disproportionately affect long-hour workers, low-income workers, minorities, rural residents, and women. Because Movn Health’s care is real, it has an 80% completion rate and a 12% 12-month readmission rate compared to the national average of 40%. Its patients also have lower rates of blood pressure and the development of pre-diabetes than the general population. “It’s a good business model,” Mr. Robart summed up, “and it’s the best solution.”

And Seae Ventures’ portfolio – and its potential impact – is increasing, especially after it acquired Unseen Capital in July 2024. The two business firms have similar investment concepts, or , “synergies between missions” as Erica Murdock, Unseen Capital’s Managing Director, said.

In fact, the name “Unseen” itself sums up the company’s mission. Launched in 2020 by founder Kayode Owens, it seeks founders and beneficiaries who are often overlooked or, simply, unseen. In particular, Unseen Capital focuses on health care companies started by grassroots founders and focused on improving health for the underserved. The company’s activities include MedHaul, which ensures safe, reliable and efficient medical transportation for healthcare providers and clinical trial providers, Health in Her Hue, which brings together Black women and other women of color in cultural health providers, health issues, and society, and Violet, which characterizes the cultural competence of nurses serving Violet’s clients and provides opportunities for further education, which allows nurses to develop knowledge and the company itself to support matching data-oriented care for patients.

Unfortunately, Mr. Owens passed away in 2021. The acquisition of Seae Ventures by Unseen Capital, however, allows both firms to continue their plans to support more founders in pursuit of solutions health and equality.

The group will also honor the legacy of Mr. Owens by empowering, inspiring and supporting the next generation of fundraisers and fundraisers. This fall, Unseen Capital will launch a partnership in Mr. Owens’ name with a scholarship fund for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who wish to pursue business or entrepreneurship – but find themselves blocked by the homogeneity of these fields. .

In other words, these relationships and scholarship will do more than just “enrich those who are already going to benefit”, as Mr. Owens wrote before his death. He noted that his skin color “… made it more difficult to be a successful founder and it took me many years to get to the point where I could help companies succeed myself. ” Mr. Robart and Mr. Louis of Seae Ventures had a similar experience: when they started Seae, there were, as Mr. Robart shared, “not many people who looked like us” in the financial community. . Together, these opportunities for HBCU students and new students can help “widen the funnel” as Mr. Owens wrote. Also, counseling programs, in general, can have a great impact on them; they can increase minority representation in management positions by about 9% to 24%.

Mr. Robart is also hopeful that, as a whole, the community will continue to move forward. “There may be obstacles on the way as we move forward but success begets success,” he concluded. And with current successes and future successes, Seae Ventures and Unseen Capital can improve prospects for the once overlooked and overlooked – and, in the process, help devalue the paradigm that has plagued venture capital capital: for founders, financiers, and Also.