In 2019, Leslie Goldman Tepper, Stephanie Campbell, and Diana Murakhovskaya formed Artemis, named the company after the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and women's rights.

With offices in Houston and New York, Artemis conducts seed rounds for diverse founders in the fintech, commerce, and care industries. To date, the company has built a portfolio of over 20 firms, all of which are led by female entrepreneurs, with more than 60% of those CEOs being Black, Latinx, or immigrants.

Bank of America, Bank of Montreal, TIAA Nuveen's Churchill Asset Management, Amazon, The Rockwell Fund, Texas Capital Bank, and Ballentine Partners are among the investors supporting the second fund.

Murakhovskaya told TechCrunch, "We really wanted to make sure that our LPs aligned with our long-term goal of backing diverse founders." "A lot of strain is placed on that. Together, we wish to develop with them.

"Leading their rounds, advocating for them, providing access to national co-investors, and instituting discipline early to hit real revenue growth" is the firm's stated approach to "help move the funding needle for female and diverse founders," according to Campbell.

"We felt that there was money being left on the table, and we're there to be the best at it," she added. "It's good business to have diverse perspectives." "We're sticking with it so that the financial returns and the impact we're making are aligned, not just for our LPs but also for the communities these entrepreneurs are from."

More funding from organizations like Artemis and others that support female and underrepresented founders—including Amplifica Capital and Black Tech Nation Ventures, which just closed a $50 million fund—is a positive thing. My colleague Dominic-Madori Davis, who analyzed the figures on venture capital funding to these demographics earlier this month, says that VC investment itself is still very static in these areas.

Black founders in the U.S. raised 0.48% of all venture dollars given last year, or roughly $661 million out of $136 billion, marking a drop in funding since 2021. For the previous two years, 2% of the financing total went to women.

However, there is some hope, although a mixed bag of it. According to recent Pitchbook analysis, female founders and co-founders raised more money overall in 2023 than they did in 2020. Maybe it's because there are more female check writers. According to Pitchbook, the percentage of female check writers at the top venture capital firms increased marginally to 17.4% at the general partner level. However, at the same time, there was a 25% decline in the number of businesses led by women that were funded.

In 2019, Artemis made its first investment from a $15 million fund. Although there haven't been any exits as of yet, Campbell and Murakhovskaya claim that the portfolio is improving. For instance, a total of $250 million in follow-on capital has been raised by 60% of the companies in Fund I. Of those, Artemis introductions accounted for 70%.

Though there are many funds that support diverse entrepreneurs, Artemis is one of the few that also invests in technology to remove obstacles encountered by underserved and marginalized American families, communities, and enterprises, according to Campbell. Invested companies from Fund I include Upgrade, a ride-sharing firm HopSkipDrive, a custom wig and extensions company, Work & Mother, a corporate breastfeeding room services venture, and senior home health provider Naborforce.

In the meantime, that fund's portfolio revenue climbed twice between 2022 and 2023 and four times between 2021 and 2022. They said that Fund I revenue in 2023 exceeded $100 million.

Artemis plans to target about 20 new firms for Fund II, continuing to lead and co-lead investments. Money from this fund has already been allocated to Payverse, an alternative payment processor; Hello Divorce, an online platform for divorces; and Max Retail, an online platform that assists brands and merchants in selling their unsold inventory.

The business will keep funding economic issues. Other VCs, according to Campbell and Murakhovskaya, write off too quickly.

"Despite the fact that uncomfortable topics are so common in our lives, many people find it difficult to discuss them," Campbell stated. Many of those underlying problems, which impact a larger population than most people know, are things that we truly care about. These are these enormous, hairy problems that nobody seems to like, especially in the care industry. Rather, we discuss their difficulty and the fact that there should be answers.