The firm announced TxO in 2020 to support founders who do not have access to traditional venture networks. Many of TxO's participants were women and minorities who, overall, receive very slim amounts of venture capital dollars. The announcement of the fund came during the wave of support that underrepresented founders received in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. The fund launched with $2.2 million in initial commitments, TechCrunch previously reported, with a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz and his wife, Felicia, matching up to an additional $5 million. TxO provided founders with access to tech networks, a 16-week-long training program, and a $175,000 investment through a donor-advised fund managed by the nonprofit Tides Foundation. The program went on to support more than 60 companies (like the media brand Brown Girl Magazine, food tech Myles Comfort Foods, and the maternity tech Villie). TxO garnered some criticism when it launched because it's technically structured as more of a...
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