Fearless Fund Shuttered in Settlement: Conservatives Declare Victory, Black Women Business Owners Get the Shaft

The Fearless Fund may have lost this round, but it’s hardly waving a white flag.

In yet another win for conservatives, the Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm lauded for supporting Black women entrepreneurs, has scrapped its signature $20,000 Strivers Grant Contest. According to the Associated Press, the decision came as part of a settlement agreement after a lawsuit from the American Alliance for Equal Rights, spearheaded by conservative figure Ed Blum, alleged the program was discriminatory.

A federal court had already hit the brakes on the contest two months ago, ruling 2-1 that Blum’s team would likely win their case. Their argument? The Strivers Grant violated the Civil Rights Act by “discriminating” based on race. Blum, who also helped dismantle affirmative action in college admissions, cheered the settlement, claiming race-exclusive programs like the Fearless Fund’s are “illegal and divisive.”

Arian Simone, the Fearless Fund’s CEO, framed the settlement as a tactical retreat, emphasizing that the fund is still laser-focused on helping women of color business owners.

Meanwhile, civil rights attorney Ben Crump patted himself on the back, claiming victory in avoiding a potentially disastrous Supreme Court ruling. But the reality? Yet another diversity initiative was sidelined without any landmark legal protections.

“By strategically avoiding a Supreme Court ruling that could have eliminated race-based funding, we protected vital opportunities for the entire Black and brown community,” Crump told AP.

Blum claimed he encouraged Fearless Fund to open its grant to all women, not just Black women, but Fearless wasn’t having it.

Blum said, “It is hoped that race-exclusive programs like the one offered by the Fearless Fund will be stopped and opened to everyone, regardless of their race.”

Instead, they shut the program down altogether — a move critics claim reinforces the conservative agenda to gut corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs one lawsuit at a time. Meanwhile, big names like Lowe’s and John Deere are quietly scaling back their DEI efforts under similar pressure.

The Fearless Fund may have lost this round, but it’s hardly waving a white flag. The firm announced a new $200 million debt fund for under-resourced founders. But let’s be honest — when one of the few funding programs for Black women founders bites the dust, is that really a win for diversity?

This legal fight also highlights the judiciary’s deep divide on DEI. While two Trump-appointed judges were all-in on Blum’s argument that the program violated the 1866 Civil Rights Act, Obama appointee Judge Robin Rosenbaum wasn’t buying it. In a fiery dissent, she compared Blum’s plaintiffs to soccer players “faking an injury” to win the match.

In the end, the settlement might stave off a Supreme Court ruling, but make no mistake: conservative activists have already declared victory in the war against DEI. And as more companies cave to legal pressure, the future of diversity funding hangs in the balance.