Fearless Fund VC Firm Disputes Injunction Stopping Grant Program For Black Women

In September 2023, the 11th Circuit Court granted an injunction halting Fearless Fund's grants pending the lawsuit outcome.

Attorneys representing the Black and women-owned Fearless Fund venture capital firm argued in Miami before a federal appeals court on Jan. 31 to overturn an injunction prohibiting them from awarding grants exclusively to entrepreneurs identifying as Black women.

The firm’s attorney, Alphonso David, argued at a press conference that if the venture capital firm cannot give grants to Black women, “it calls into the question every other charitable organization doing the same thing,” CNN reported.

The attorney also said the case “should be important to everyone.”

Fearless Fund is defending itself against the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) — headed by Edward Blum, who was involved in the Supreme Court case that eliminated affirmative action in college admissions.

A lawsuit filed by AAER alleged the Fund’s Black women-only entrepreneur grants discriminate against the group’s unnamed members who weren’t Black. AAER attorneys argue this is illegal racial discrimination that causes “additional harm.”

Fearless Fund Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Arian Simone said the organization remains “undeterred by this relentless, concerted attempt to set economic equity back,” the news outlet reported. In fact, since the last court hearing, Fearless Fund expressed that it has expanded services to be a “one-stop-shop for women of color entrepreneurs.”

In September 2023, CNN reported that the 11th Circuit Court granted an injunction halting Fearless Fund’s grants pending the lawsuit’s outcome.