by Ray Hayes
Last year, Project Include, a Silicon Valley diversity initiative, decided to cut ties with Y Combinator because of its relationship with Peter Thiel. Thiel, if you recall, drew controversy over rape comments he made in a book.
Despite the negative press however, YC has continued its support of diversity in tech. Sam Altman, President of YC announced his support of diversity and has net let up. According to TechCrunch “Last year, YC funded 68 female founders at 52 companies and 52 black and Latinx founders at 29 companies. In total, 22.3 percent of the companies YC funded had a woman on the founding team, 12.5 percent of the founders YC funded were women and 11.6 percent of the founders YC funded were black or Latino.”
YC will be hosting its annual Demo Day from March 21-22 and they plan to highlight the importance of achieving diversity at the startup level of business. Check back tomorrow for more details about the meeting and YC’s future plans.