Ulu in Action – May 2024

Miriam Rivera and Maria Salamanca

Miriam Rivera and Maria Salamanca were selected to the Business Insider Seed 40! Maria co-authored the third annual SomosVC report on the State of Latino/a VCs in the US. We celebrated our 134 AAPI founders during AAPI Heritage Month and one Ulu unicorn is electrifying the school transportation industry and powering the grid at the same time!

Seed 40

Business Insider Seed 40: The Best Female Early Stage Investors of 2024

Business Insider named Miriam Rivera and Maria Salamanca to their Seed 40: The Best Female Early Stage Investors of 2024. This is Miriam’s second nomination.

AAPI Heritage Month

Ulu celebrated AAPI Heritage Month and highlighted founder Amar Kumar graphic with Omar

Ulu celebrated AAPI Heritage Month and highlighted founder Amar Kumar, founder of KaiPod Learning. We took a deep dive into Amar’s passions around creating affordable micro-schools where children learn at their own pace; the teachers are called “founders.” You can read all about this concept that turns traditional schools into transformative learning centers here.

SomosVC Annual Report

State of latino/a VCs in the US report cover

SomosVC, a nonprofit co-founded by Maria Salamanca, released its third annual report on the state of Latino/a VCs in the US. Maria was a co-author; the research indicates some progress has been made in the VC industry for the Latino community, but the vast majority of funds have yet to add Latino representation to their teams. You can read the entire report here. Below are a few key points:

  • Latino/a investors represent only 1.6% of investment professionals at venture firms above $100M in AUM.
  • 79% of funds over $100M in AUM have zero Latino/a investors; 450 venture funds have not hired one Latino/a investor.
  • Only 26 funds over $100M AUM have more than one Latino/a investor on their team.

Stanford GSB’s Black Leadership Conference

Miriam was a panelist at Stanford GSB’s Black Leadership Conference, “Black Excellence: A Legacy of Leadership.” The panel, themed “Building Black Excellence in Venture Capital,” explored strategies for increasing access to capital and creating a more inclusive and equitable startup ecosystem.

SomosVC Emerging Managers Showcase

Maria at the SomosVC Emerging Managers Showcase on a panel titled “Exploring the LP Mindset

Maria was featured at the SomosVC Emerging Managers Showcase on a panel titled “Exploring the LP Mindset.” It delved into the LPs’ processes for sourcing, selecting, and evaluating emerging managers, emphasizing the importance of looking beyond financial metrics and track records. She also attended the first annual Latina VCs dinner.

Alpha on Delta

Alpha on the delta graphic

Miriam was a panelist at the Alpha on Delta conference in New Orleans. The topics discussed by the panel included how and to what extent AI was disruptive to the workforce. Although some view AI as a job-killer, the other side of the coin is that if increased productivity creates more revenue, companies could hire more people.The invitation-only conference brought together world-class alternative fund managers, entrepreneurs, and a select group of investors.

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Rusty Dornin
Rusty Dornin is the director of marketing and communications for Ulu Ventures. An award-winning radio and television journalist, she was a CNN correspondent for nearly 18 years covering domestic and world news ranging from war to natural disasters and tales of crime and politics.
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