The Missing Billions

Rebuilding the Real Economy—One Founder at a Time

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Nov 03, 2025

Introduction

Venture capital prides itself on spotting inefficiencies before the market does. Yet one of the most glaring inefficiencies continues to be ignored: the underinvestment in women-led venture capital funds and emerging fund managers from underrepresented backgrounds. The Milken Institute’s report, ‘The Missing Billions: Analyzing the Impact of Women-Led Financial Managers’, makes the case that this is more than an equity issue. It’s a systemic misallocation of capital that is costing LPs performance, slowing global growth, and leaving billions in untapped investment opportunities on the table. Between 2018 and 2024, only 15.9% of venture capital GPs and founding partners were women. During the same period, companies with at least one female founder or CEO represented just 20.2% of VC-backed deals. That gap translates directly into lower returns, weaker portfolio diversification, and lost alpha for investors.

Billions Left on the Table

Scale trap: Just 15.5% of all-female decision-maker funds raised more than $100M in 2024, compared to 34.0% of all VC funds.
Performance ignored: Women fund managers and nonbinary-led funds often outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.
Wealth control vs. wealth management: Over the
next decade, women are projected to inherit ~$30 trillion in assets and control nearly 75% of discretionary household spending. Yet they remain underrepresented as capital allocators. If women control wealth but remain shut out from managing it at scale, global capital will be deployed less efficiently, overall returns will be lower, and as a world we will see slower economic growth.
Opportunity scope: The Milken Institute frames this as an over $700 billion market opportunity if allocators expand commitments to women-led and diverse fund managers.

My Journey: From Fellowship to Firm

DVRGNT Ventures would not exist without interventions designed to close this gap. I am a proud product of the Recast Capital Accelerate fellowship and the VC Include fellowship. These programs gave me the foundation to launch DVRGNT Ventures, and they prove a larger point: when intentional investments are made in diverse fund managers, performance follows. The Milken Institute’s report validates what I and many others know firsthand — ignoring these managers is an avoidable mistake for LPs and allocators.

A Playbook for LPs and Investors

Redefine diligence. Move beyond legacy metrics that over-weight traditional track records and under-weight differentiated strategies from emerging fund managers.
Rethink minimums. Flexible allocations and smaller tickets into women-led venture funds open access to outsized returns.
Build graduation pathways. Create institutional capital tracks that help women fund managers scale beyond $50M to $100M+ platforms.
Publish outcomes. Transparency on fund performance helps dismantle myths about underperformance and drives confidence in allocating to diverse venture funds.

DVRGNT Ventures’ Commitment

At DVRGNT Ventures, our investment thesis is rooted in turning overlooked geographies and overlooked managers into outlier outcomes. That’s why we invest across The Great 38™ states — and why we partner with women-led and diverse venture capital funds who are already generating superior performance. Through our own capital commitments and our ecosystem convenings like The Wealth Salons and our OGs & LPs series, we are building the networks, visibility, and connectivity necessary to close this gap. The billions aren’t “missing.” They’re waiting. The only question is whether institutional investors and LPs will stop leaving them on the table.

“The billions aren’t missing. They’re waiting.”

We’d love for you to join the conversation:

For Investors:

What products have you seen gain unexpected momentum because of their cultural cachet, maybe even through a surprising media alignment?