Fearless Fund Appeals Court Ruling In Lawsuit, Continues Fight For Black Women Entrepreneurs

Fearless Fund has filed an appeal against a court ruling that temporarily blocked their grant program for Black women entrepreneurs.

The ruling came amid an ongoing lawsuit by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), which alleged the fund’s grant program was racially discriminatory.

The Racial Bias Lawsuit

Black-woman-owned venture capital fund Fearless Fund invests in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level, or series A financing.

The AAER brought a lawsuit against them in August 2023. Notably, AAER founder Edward Blum is the conservative activist behind the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling.

The Fearless Fund lawsuit targeted the fund’s Fearless Strives Grant Contest, which awarded Black small-owned female businesses $20,000 in grants. 

The lawsuit accused the grant program of violating Section 1081 of the Civil Rights Act of 1886, which bars racial bias in private contracts by opening its grant competition only to Black women.

After US District Judge Thomas V. Thrash ruled that Fearless Fund could continue offering the grant program only to Black women entrepreneurs, a week later, a panel of federal judges temporarily blocked the program.

They claimed it was ‘racially exclusionary’ and ‘substantially likely’ to violate a federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in contracting.

This reversed the previous judge’s ruling and temporarily prevented the Fearless Fund from running the Strivers Grant Contest.

Fearless Fund’s Appeal

Fearless Fund has now appealed the decision made in September.

“The Alliance seeks to enjoin a grant and mentorship program designed to ‘bridge the gap in venture capital funding’ that Black women entrepreneurs face due to historical discrimination,’ the appeal read, according to AfroTech.

Fearless Fund also stated the AAER has distorted a Reconstruction-era civil rights law in an effort for the group to promote its ‘colorblind-at-all-costs viewpoint.’

The fund stated the law does not apply to the grant program.

“The Alliance opposes race-conscious remedial programs in all forms and exists for the sole purpose of attacking them in the courts,” Fearless Fund stated.

Fearless Fund lawyers wrote, “Forcing the Foundation to adopt race-neutral criteria would disable the Foundation from conveying its message on the precise topic it seeks to address: economic disadvantages faced by ‘Black women.’

On January 31, 2023, a three-judge appeals panel will hear both parties during an expedited hearing in Miami.