British charitable initiative Founders Pledge established its VC division called Pledge Ventures and held the first close of its debut fund at $38M.

 

British charitable initiative Founders Pledge established its VC division called Pledge Ventures and held the first close of its debut fund at $38M.   The firm will donate 85% of carried interest and 50% of management fees to charity.  The philanthropic project Founders Pledge was established in 2015 and enables business founders to donate a portion of their personal earnings when they liquidate their startup ownership during an exit event. Founders can make a minimum commitment of 5% of their proceeds.  On average, founders commit 11% of their earnings to the initiative.  Founders of Klarna, SoundCloud, Google DeepMind, Snyk, Ledgy, and Otrium are a few that have signed up with the Founders Pledge.  The new fund will invest in Series B and beyond startups that are raising more than $20M and have committed to philanthropy through Founders Pledge.