Unreasonable Group has revealed it has hit its ambitious 50% diversity target in just one year. Now 51% of its Unreasonable Collective members are women or people of colour, the company announced in its annual report, released today.

Last year, Unreasonable made a commitment to give under-represented groups in investment a seat at the table – and that includes women, people of colour and those who identify as LGBTQ+.

“Inclusivity is at the heart of everything we do, when we’re looking at potential members or companies to invest in, which is why we ended up with these great stats,” says Pratibha Vuppuluri, Head of Investments, and Partner, Collective, Unreasonable Group.

The impact of having diverse investors - whether that’s in terms of gender, ethnicity or geography - has already been felt, with valuable new perspectives being brought to The Collective.

And the shift doesn’t stop there. Diversity filters through to investment decisions, too. One of the Unreasonable Collective’s first investments was Air Protein, the pioneering product that aims to feed the world’s growing population sustainably, founded by Dr Lisa Dyson. And climate technology startup BlocPower, founded by Donnel Baird, is helping disadvantaged communities in New York save on their energy costs.

“When it comes to capital channelled to diverse and under-represented founders, that is where the biggest gap lies. Most of the money in Silicon Valley goes to white, male founders. We’re here to disrupt that,” says Vuppuluri.

The achievement is particularly impressive because 2020 saw women lose ground in the investment space when funding to female-led and mixed-gender founding teams dropped to just 14%.

“Our focus on diversity is ongoing. It’s something I haven’t seen much of in the venture world, but Unreasonable’s community-driven model opens up new opportunities for women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ investors. We offer pre-vetted deals at Series A stage and if someone wants to make an investment they can go and visit the business and ask the CEO questions. That’s so important because people are looking to put their money in companies that have a positive impact on the world,” added Vuppuluri.

And Unreasonable Collective’s investments all have a positive impact, from innovative and sustainable design and manufacturing company Plant Prefab to Goodr, the diverse, female-owned company leveraging blockchain technology to reduce food waste and combat hunger.