Who we take money from

As a mission-oriented venture studio, The Data Guild works with a wide range of strategic partners and investors worldwide in bringing new product companies to life. These include great institutional funds, progressive global multinationals, and visionary entrepreneurs aligned around the idea of not just “changing the world” — that played-out phrase still a favorite here on the West Coast — but to solve some of the greatest planetary challenges we face in human health and the environment.

In talking it over with our team here, we feel it’s important for us to take a public position that — somewhat disappointingly— few other Silicon Valley-based outfits have been willing to take.

It’s pretty simple.

The Data Guild does not, and will not, take money from repressive regimes or their partners and allies, full stop.

For us, this means governments, non-government organizations and individuals that acquire power through fear and intimidation, threaten violence against their own people, deny basic human rights, violate global institutional norms, and/or seek to destabilize the international rule of law. For avoidance of doubt, this list would currently include, for example, the Saudi Arabian government, the Chinese government, and Russian oligarchs — each of which has billions of dollars spread across U.S. tech firms and venture funds.

• If a repressive regime is a Limited Partner in your fund, we will not work with you.
• If your fund takes money from a third-party wealth manager of a regime which takes an LP position in your fund, we will not work with you.
• If your fund is a front for such a government or its partners, we will not work with you.
• If, as a company, you have major investors from these funds or directly from these regimes or entities, we will not work with you.

This may sound naive in the extreme. After all, that tainted money is seemingly everywhere — at least that’s the rumor. The truth, however, is (as ever) more nuanced and in this case more hopeful. We are finding better, aligned partners everywhere; it’s just that they are often not sitting on Sand Hill. It does require looking in some new places — like the corporate leadership of certain multinationals. We are finding that those conversations are often some of the most “out-of-the-box” and aligned for us.

We encourage other innovators here in San Francisco and worldwide to take a similar position. Changing the economic reality is far more effective than trying to change the ethical framework of investors or venture capital. Venture needs high quality opportunities; they need those world-changing ideas and companies. We hope the next generation of world-class entrepreneurs will choose investors and partners who share these values, and actively turn away those who do not.

For far too long and especially over the last 15 or so years, venture capital has been a washing machine for tainted investment capital seeking legitimacy. Many US-based Venture Capitalists (and not just the ones based in California) have been all too willing to use that money to expand the size of their funds (and concomitant management fees) and grant that legitimacy. We believe this is both wrong and short-sighted. And it’s exactly the opposite of what the world needs right now.

Who we take money from matters. We realize this is currently an unpopular position, and certainly will close off certain kinds of growth opportunities for The Data Guild. But we are at a critical moment in our society and on Earth, and it’s important for us to be fully consistent with our values as an organization and extended partner network.

We also believe there is a growing concern across the tech community about a failure of leadership inside major tech companies on key decisions like this, and that now is the time for all of us to not just take a stand, but establish a new reality. A critical area is not partnering with or enriching investors (and their LPs and their extended networks) who don’t share our values, and instead building the next generation of innovation with partners who do.