Q&A with Miriam Rivera of Ulu Ventures
Impact Profile
Miriam Rivera, Managing Director of Ulu Ventures
Miriam Rivera is managing director of Ulu Ventures, a top seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups and dedicated to driving better VC returns through data and diversity. As we prepare for the upcoming Virtual Impact Summit next Thursday 4/30, we chatted with Miriam to get her take on investment strategy, particularly in this moment of urgency and crisis. Here’s what she has to say.
What are some of the social and environmental challenges you are addressing through your work as an investor? (in essence, the themes of your fund, with any compelling statistics you would like to share that underscore the problem)
Lack of access to capital for diverse entrepreneurs is one of the primary social and environmental challenges we address. Diversity is our core investment thesis and we believe diversity is profitable. Within tech, we are particularly concerned with the lack of a transparent framework for making investment decisions that reduce bias; a core part of our focus is using data driven decision analysis which enables that kind of transparency and helps to reduce cognitive bias. Ulu Fund II has invested in 73 companies, below are the percentages of investments Ulu makes in women, minorities and URM’s as compared to the US VC industry as of 3/31/2020.
Overall Ulu’s diverse CEOs are 59% of the portfolio and diverse founders are 79%.
The companies we invest in also address a number of social and environmental challenges in the work they do, which is often focused on developing markets for underserved populations.
How, if at all, is your approach toward investing evolving due to the current health crisis?
Our approach towards investing is not significantly impacted by the current health crisis. We are investors in technologies with projected long-term success; the current crisis, while of course difficult and challenging, is more of a short-term impact, relatively speaking. We are encouraging our companies impacted by the pandemic to be flexible and adaptive to the current situation and recognize opportunities to change their direction and some have pivoted their focus to help them to meet the challenges and to also offer valuable services to communities in need.
How can investors and entrepreneurs keep long term values in mind while managing the urgency of this moment?
Our long-term values include being transparent with our investors, treating them well, and holding them accountable for their business decisions. In the current crisis, we've emphasized the need for entrepreneurs to develop a plan that they can communicate to their companies that acknowledges the contributions of their teams and balances that with the need for the company's survival. When making difficult decisions such as layoffs or RIFs and other expenditure cuts, we also encourage entrepreneurs not to cut so deeply that they can't take advantage of opportunities that arise as the urgency of the moment subsides.
Can you share any examples of investors or companies that have pivoted to meet the current health crisis?
We have several companies that have pivoted or are offering additional services, sometimes for free, for customers, communities in need, and even nations requiring help during this global pandemic. Here are just a few examples.
Zum, a ride-share service for kids, was faced with school closures and near-immediate shutdown of their services. The CEO Ritu Naryan, an immigrant woman founder, mobilized their network of drivers and technology to fill the last-mile gap and deliver the resources (meals, equipment and school supplies) that all children need and deserve in an effort to make shelter-in-place distance learning effective.
Kogniz, a company that uses AI for facial recognition, began using infrared sensors when the pandemic broke out, which makes it possible to continuously measure body temperature as people enter buildings. The platform can quickly identify who else may have come into contact with people displaying coronavirus symptoms using existing surveillance cameras.
The challenges to manufacturers are unprecedented and many are shifting operations and producing new products. Arch Systems is offering free operation command centers for companies making ventilators, medical devices, or other critical equipment (for 1 year or however long the pandemic lasts).
Guild Education, helps employers provide affordable college education to working Americans. CEO Rachel Carlson and former Amex Chairman and General Catalyst Managing Director Ken Chenault spearheaded a call to action for corporate leaders to step up and help employees and are asking for a pledge for a 90 day moratorium on laying off workers. More than 300 companies and 1500 business leaders have signed on.
Presence Learning, is offering free on-demand webinars from the leading minds and changemakers in special education to help clinicians deliver teletherapy and other special education-related services to students during COVID-19 school closures.
LearnZillion, is providing free content to teachers during school closures (1000+ instructional videos).
Coding Dojo launched Tech for America to help small businesses. 4,500 alumni are volunteering web development services to help organizations adapt and survive the pandemic. Projects include creating or maintaining organizations' websites, adding functionality to existing sites (i.e., restaurants adding takeout/delivery services).
FounderNest, is helping investors and companies find each other and connect in these difficult days of the pandemic. Founders are desperately trying to increase their runway but are unclear about which investors are actively investing during a looming global recession. FounderNest decided to open up their network to any active founder and investor in the world, and their platform to any startup-investor network or ecosystem that aims to better connect founders and investors during these challenging times.