Closing the

Equity Gap

Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice
in Startup Investing

An entrepreneur and a social activist remake the future of investing and business, offering a groundbreaking “win-win” roadmap for creating wealth and addressing inequalities by investing in groundbreaking tech companies that defy assumptions from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.

Closing the

Equity Gap

Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing

An entrepreneur and a social activist remake the future of investing and business, offering a groundbreaking “win-win” roadmap for creating wealth and addressing inequalities by investing in groundbreaking tech companies that defy assumptions from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.

Purchase the Book

Available in hardcover, e-reader, and audiobook.

Building A More Equitable Society

Companies backed by venture capital drive the U.S. economy, accounting for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales and profits. The problem is that most of the wealth created winds up enriching elites while the businesses funded by venture capitalists widen economic inequality. Committed to doing things differently, tech venture capitalists Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor launched Kapor Capital to prove that investing in gap-closing startups—companies whose services or products close opportunity gaps for both communities of color and low-income communities—is good business. Over the past decade, they’ve broadened the definition of success to include profits and accountability for the impacts a business has on employees, communities, and the planet, helping to launch close to 200 companies engaged in achieving social and economic justice while showing remarkable growth, with many valued in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.

 

What Readers
Are Saying

Kirkus Reviews

Decrying the fact that most venture capitalists “worship in the church of greed,” Klein and Kapor, founders of the impact investment firm Kapor Capital, offer myriad examples of businesses they have supported that are focused on doing good—specifically, on closing “gaps of access, opportunity, or outcome for low-income communities and/or communities of color.” An impact investment firm, the authors explain, aims to get a substantial return on their investments by funding entrepreneurs “whose own life experiences compel them to create companies and build wealth that will solve the difficult problems that they personally had to overcome.” Not surprisingly, those people come from underrepresented groups, including immigrants and children of immigrants, racial minorities, women, and individuals who identify as queer. At Kapor Capital, write the authors, “every person involved in making the fund’s investment decisions is a person of color.”

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In the News

Read the latest articles on the efforts and successes of Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor as they continue to invest in Closing The Equity Gap.

Americans’ retirement investments are at the mercy of the culture wars

FORTUNE

The authors explore how culture wars are influencing retirement investment choices for Americans, especially those surrounding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).

How to use venture capital for good

TEDWomen
Freada Kapor Klein isn’t your typical venture capitalist. She explains how her firm is investing in entrepreneurs and startups solving real-world problems — and the measurable difference it’s already making.

Op-Ed: How Tech Can Move Beyond Empty Promises To Truly Advance DEI

AFRO TECH
Despite the commitments to racial equity espoused in 2020, the response from tech CEOs, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists has been a resounding silence.

The VC Fund Closing Equity Gaps — and Making Money

Harvard Business Review
The authors discuss how doing business well isn’t enough when the impact still creates negative effects and contributes to disparities.
inc.com

3 Tips for Building a Company Focused on Closing the Equity Gap

Inc.
Companies that help create wealth and close wealth gaps for low-income communities can yield strong financial returns. Here are some tips for getting it right.
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A Conversation with Computing Pioneer, Mitch Kapor

Thought Economics

Mitch discusses the power of investment to tackle the biggest problems in Global Society.

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Spotlighting female founders closing the gap for women in the workforce

CNBC

Join CNBC’s Julia Boorstin and the change-makers driving gender diversity while delivering social and economic returns.

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How companies can invest in employees and lead with purpose

Washington Post

Join Freada and Mitch and Washington Post Live for a series of conversations about leading with purpose, investing in employees and connecting with consumers.

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Silicon Valley functions more like ‘a mirror-tacracy’ as the racial equity gap widens

Yahoo Finance

Co-Authors discuss how the venture capital industry will be impacted following the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the racial equity gap in VC funding, and provide tips for entrepreneurs venturing into a “post-SVB world”.

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At Upfront Summit 2023, AI is the omnipresent celebrity

 

TechCrunch+

Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor were among a panel of investors at the Upfront Summit discussing the future of generative AI.

Bloomberg books

The 52 Books That Business Leaders Are Recommending

Bloomberg

Check out Bloomberg’s annual list of what the most powerful people in business will be reading this year, and why. 

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Laid off from Twitter, now his competing app Spill is funded

TechCrunch+

Spill hopes to be a home for Black users from the get-go, since the very people building the app are part of that community.

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Kapor Capital, Black-Led VC Firm Focused On ‘Impact,’ Raises $126 Million

Forbes
The funding, which makes Kapor Capital one of the largest Black-led VC firms by assets, will help it continue to invest in “gap-closing” impact-minded startups.
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A Coalition of Tech Founders Bets Big on Public Infrastructure

Bloomberg
The new Upside Tech Alliance combines four startups that are seeking to solve problems like the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi.

Learn More About the Kapor Family of Organizations: