Recast Capital Announces 2023 Inaugural Cohort for the Accelerate Program

First cohort of emerging managers joining Recast Accelerate includes 36 women-led funds

NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recast Capital, a platform dedicated to investing in and supporting emerging managers in venture, today announced the first cohort of Recast Accelerate, a catalytic program designed to drive the success of women and nonbinary-led, early stage US funds in venture capital.

The review process was supported by a selection committee of limited partners with experience working with emerging managers in venture, including Ashlie Tyler of Bank of America, Geoff Abrahams of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Katie Fackler of a private family office, Lisa Cawley of Screen Door, Angela Outlaw-Matheny of Crewcial Partners, Margot Kane of Spring Point Partners, and Matt Rho of Avivar Capital.

The Fall 2023 cohort is composed of 36 funds, 25% of which include at least one GP that is Black, 17% Latinx, 39% Asian, 8% from the LGBTQIA+ community, and 36% are first-generation U.S. citizens. The funds are headquartered all across the US, covering 13 states. Over 83% of the funds involved are raising Fund 1 and 53% are a solo GP. Some of the top sectors of focus include health and wellness, consumer technology and climate technology. The original goal was to select 30 funds for the inaugural cohort; however, the strength of the applicant pool coupled with the particularly challenging fundraising environment for underrepresented GPs today motivated Recast to work to increase the size of the group and support more managers.

The Recast Accelerate inaugural cohort includes:

• Chi Achebe, Achebe Capital
• Annie Luchsinger, Breakers VC
• Pamela York, Kathy Tune, Capita3 Ventures
• Tessa Flippin, Capitalize VC
• Sally Zheng, Centenarian Fund
• Jennifer Kan, Michael Luciani, Climate Capital
• Rebecca Gevalt, Meg Vorland, Meagan Metzger, Dcode Capital
• Megan Maloney, Dria Ventures
• Mahrinah Shije, Endemic Venture Capital
• Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Everywhere Ventures
• Connie Bowen, Farmhand Ventures
• Jenny Barba, Jeff Chu, Features Capital
• Kathryn Finney, Genius Guild Greenhouse Fund
• Jennifer Keiser Neundorfer, Maren Thomas Bannon, January Ventures
• Helene Servillon, JourneyOne Ventures
• Ariane Tom, Kaleida Capital
• Madeline Darcy, Kaya Ventures
• Rohini Chakravarthy, Chad Bailey, NewBuild Venture Capital
• Batchimeg Ganbaatar, Tem Tumurbat, Nomadic Venture Partners
• Kimberley Nixon, Open Venture Capital
• Erica Wenger, Park Rangers Capital
• Jenny He, Position Ventures
• Rachel ten Brink, Herman Goihman, Red Bike Capital
• Lisa Morales-Hellebo, Brian Laung Aoaeh, REFASHIOND Ventures
• Tahira Dosani, Vikas Raj, ResilienceVC
• Tara Tan, Strange VC
• Sonam Velani, Laura Fox, Streetlife Ventures
• Noramay Cadena, Shayna Harris,  Supply Change Capital
• Sydney Thomas, Symphonic Capital
• Stephanie Campell, Leslie Goldman, Diana Murakhovskaya, The Artemis Fund
• Himalaya Rao-Potlapally, The BFM Fund
• Amber Illig, The Council Fund
• Allison Barr Allen, Trail Run Capital
• Danielle Steer, Amanda Heyman, Adam Choe, Tundra Ventures
• Brita Rosenheim, Beatriz Franco, Vita Vera Ventures
• Gale Wilkinson, Caroline Casson, VITALIZE Venture Capital

"I'm thrilled to welcome Recast Accelerate's first cohort, a group of high caliber and well-deserving managers. We're excited to work with this talented group of GPs," says Sara Zulkosky, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital. "We look forward to supporting their firms' evolution as they leverage the program's various resources. The fundraising landscape has been particularly challenging for emerging managers, and we hope that having access to the networking opportunities, educational components, and additional capital through the program will help them expedite their success in market. We are looking forward to the impact that they can have on the broader venture ecosystem."

Recast Accelerate launched in early 2023 with the intent to help more diverse managers successfully raise and run institutional-quality funds over time. Accelerate began by focusing on women and nonbinary-led emerging venture managers, and provides access to Recast's established Enablement Program, including key educational content, professional development and community-building resources, complimentary executive coaching, and $100k to be leveraged in support of each fund's backend operations. The program is rooted in the hypothesis that by increasing the number of emerging GPs that identify as women or non-binary, particularly those focused on investing at the earliest stages of company development, you will also increase the percentage of VC funding to founders from underrepresented backgrounds. The only requirement is each manager agrees to report on the demographics of the founders they back and the findings will be publicly released.

"We are passionate about helping to increase the number of underrepresented emerging managers because they are bringing innovation to an industry long overdue for change," said Courtney McCrea, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Recast Capital. "Accelerate is one of the first programs of its kind to fully support women and non-binary emerging managers with no strings attached. We are grateful for the trust that these managers and funds have placed in Recast to join along on this exciting journey to change the face of venture capital." 

Early support for Accelerate comes from Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company. Recast is looking to bring additional funders on board to broaden the program's reach, include more managers in future cohorts and provide more funding to the managers. In addition to this cohort, the Accelerate program will announce two additional cohorts over the next two years. Recast Accelerate is a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity.

To learn more about Recast Accelerate visit: https://recastcapital.com/accelerate/ or or email [email protected].

About Recast
Recast Capital is a 100% women-owned venture capital platform that invests in and supports top-tier emerging fund managers, with a focus on diverse partnerships. The platform was built to drive returns and create substantive change in the venture industry.

Founded by seasoned, institutionally-trained fund investors Courtney McCrea and Sara Zulkosky, Recast Capital leverages its deep network and exceptional track record to provide its limited partners diversified exposure to top-performing emerging managers, as well as access to a pipeline of the future's industry-leading franchises.

Recast also launched the Enablement and Accelerate Programs as powerful complements to its fund investment strategy; the programs provide learning and development opportunities for emerging managers in venture, allowing Recast to support more of the community than just those it can invest in via their fund investment strategies.

Learn more at www.recastcapital.com.

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SOURCE Recast Capital