Upfront Ventures has a deep-seated commitment to equality in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders. We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns.

In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets to align this value across all investments that we make. We have decided to “open source” our language (below) in the hopes that other VCs will use this clause and/or improve upon it so that as an industry we can proactively drive the change we want to see rather than just hoping it will happen. If your firm is willing to commit to an “inclusion rule” we hope that you will consider linking to it from your home URL as a sign of industry solidarity in the hope that others will follow suit.

Upfront Ventures strives to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team — one that’s inclusive across gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disabilities, and national origins. While we would never impose hiring decisions, we aim to reduce the potential impact of unconscious bias for key C-Level and senior roles within a Company. We therefore ask that each portfolio company include an “inclusion rule” in its HR policies so that at least one woman and/or member of a population currently underrepresented within the company shall be formally interviewed for any open executive position.