In their evaluations of high-performing venture capital funds, professional investors rate white-led teams more favorably than they do black-led teams with identical credentials, a new Stanford study finds

There is an enormous gender gap in venture capital funding in the United States. Female entrepreneurs receive only about 2% of all venture funding, despite owning 38% of the businesses in the country. The prevailing hope among academics, policy makers, and practitioners alike has been that this gap will narrow as more women become venture capitalists. However, homophily does not seem to be the only culprit behind the funding gap. Over the past several years, the U.S. has seen an increase in the number of female venture capitalists (from 3% of all VCs in 2014 to an estimated 7% today), but the funding gap has only widened.

Successful companies require 3 ingredients: the right idea at the right time with the right team. While the first two ingredients are no doubt important, in order to achieve any level of success, it requires a great team with a common goal.

As crypto fever gripped many leading economies in 2018, Africa was shaping its own blockchain narrative—one more grounded in utility than speculation. Over the last year, the continent saw several ICOs and token launches. And use cases for blockchain in Africa are emerging to solve problems and unlock potential in agriculture, solar-energy, health-care, government, and beyond.

The Africa program will bring together 200 emerging leaders from 45 countries across the continent to explore new ways to take on the biggest challenges in their communities.