Backstage Capital
Invested about $20M in nearly 200 startups led by underrepresented founders — often their first cheque.
Source: Time, 2022 ↗Venture capital
Arlan Hamilton
Founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital (2015), investing in startups led by women, people of colour and LGBTQ founders. She built the firm after being homeless, and later opened it to non-accredited investors via crowdfunding.
Backstage CapitalNotable investments
What Arlan Hamilton has backed
Backstage (crowdfunding)
Raised ~$5M from about 6,500 mostly non-accredited investors who bought equity in the firm itself.
Source: Time, 2022 ↗Photo: TechCrunch — Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Watch
Arlan Hamilton in her own words
How Arlan Hamilton Went From 'Really Broke' To Founding A Multi-Million Dollar Venture Capital Fund · via Business Insider
What the record doesn't say
Read this with the gaps in mind.
Backstage doesn't publish returns and had documented struggles raising its later, larger funds; total-invested figures are as of 2022.
Frequently asked questions
What has Arlan Hamilton invested in?
Arlan Hamilton has backed Backstage Capital, Backstage (crowdfunding). Each one is listed on this page with what the company does and a link to named reporting.
How much has Arlan Hamilton invested?
Cheque sizes are almost never disclosed, and Arlan Hamilton's are mostly private. Where a round size, stake or valuation has been reported we cite the source; otherwise we flag it as undisclosed rather than guess.