Called the Gender Equality in Tech, Gates’ Pivotal Ventures said Thursday it plans to bring the initiative here as part of the company’s broader US$50mil investment in gender equality in tech. Pivotal Ventures officials declined to disclose the amount that will be spent in Miami.
GET Cities will be partnering with Florida International University to identify female freshman and sophomore students in search of a major and direct them toward technology studies. Along the way, they will get a paid, short-term internship to cement their interest in the field. The goal is to increase the number of women graduating in Miami with tech-related degrees during the lifetime of the program, which is intended to last at least five years.
The survey, spearheaded by aīre ventures, showed women and minorities expressing less access to key networking opportunities and capital than their white and male counterparts. An earlierreport found that the top 40 venture capital deals in Miami this year through Aug. 3 consisted of just one Black-founded startup that received funding.
“We know that that internship is the key to landing a tech job,” Spitz said in an interview. “Normally, these companies would not have to accept those women in their early college years, so it also exposes them to a talent pool that is often overlooked.”