SoftBank sells off fund focused on Black and Latino founders

• Judge and Claure wanted to scale OOF beyond what SoftBank was willing to commit as the sole LP, as it was in Fund 1, so they felt that an independent spinout was best.
• They now plan to target $200 million for a second fund, with SoftBank to participate as an LP. Expect some commitments to come from corporations that launched Black-focused investment initiatives in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, but which haven't yet figured out how to put the money to work.

What they're saying: "We think about this a bit like sports, in which the athletes are often minorities, but there's very little minority representation at the coaching layer and even less with ownership," explains Paul Judge, who notes there are 75 portfolio companies in the initial fund. "Our management company is now 100% owned by minorities, so our structure represents those who we're investing in."