San Francisco — Gold House, the premier collective of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) leaders fighting together for socioeconomic equity by uniting, investing in, and promoting API creatives and companies, debuts its $30 million fund — Gold House Ventures — and latest Gold Rush accelerator class to shatter the bamboo ceiling and deliver market-first social impact. The fund invests directly in founders of API descent; corrals capital through its preeminent API investor network which includes top angels and venture capital firms; amplifies portfolio companies through industry-focused incubation programs alongside the nation’s first and leading API accelerator (Gold Rush); provides extensive marketing and talent recruitment support; and contributes 100% of its management fee and profits back to Gold House, the nonprofit, to further the organization’s history-making work.
According to Harvard Business Review, Asians are among the least likely demographics to be promoted to management, particularly Asian women. In technology, Asians account for roughly 30% of the total workforce but are less than 14% of executive ranks and single digits in the C-Suite. Boards are no better. However, several estimates indicate that 16% of the top companies founded in the last decade have at least one Asian American founder (despite being 7% of the nation’s population), underscoring that APIs can succeed at the highest levels. On the other side of the table, nearly 42% of last year’s Forbes Midas list was API (with APIs occupying the #1-4 spots and 6 of the top 10), underscoring a clear opportunity to remove the bamboo ceiling by founding companies, hiring equitably, and building successfully.
“Gold House was forged to rewrite history that’s been handed to us — to build our own houses rather than just live in someone else’s. Our movement began by reshaping public opinion through film and TV consultation, delivering successful opening weekends, and winning awards seasons because what we see on screen alters what we believe. Now, it’s time to ensure that what we believe is who we can become — not just for the API community but for all communities through equitable hiring, multicultural consumer engagement, and collective economic success,”
said Bing Chen, President & Co-Founder of Gold House and General Partner of Gold House Ventures.
Gold House Ventures invests across industries and stages — always in lockstep with world class investors who are founding members and supporters of Gold House. These investing partners include Accel, Alley Corp, Bain Capital, Basis Set, Bling Capital, CircleUp, Coatue, Decibel, Eniac, Floodgate, General Catalyst, GGV, Goodwater, Graph Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, Juxtapose, Lightspeed, Mayfield, NEA, Northzone, Tribe, Trinity, Upfront, Wing VC, Xfund, and a growing list of top early stage funds across industries.
“Many of the world’s most iconic companies, from Doordash to Credit Karma to Binance, are founded and run by API entrepreneurs. We want to back the next generation of great API founders but also shine a spotlight on their success to inspire even more people in our community to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.” said Eric Feng, General Partner of Gold House Ventures and former General Partner at Kleiner Perkins.
Gold House Ventures’ investors are a trifecta of the most pioneering API founders, executives, and cultural leaders to provide industry-leading company support. It includes the API founders of Binance Labs, YouTube, Twitch, DoorDash, Credit Karma, Zuora, Zola, FiscalNote, Honey, Guitar Hero, MyFitnessPal, XO Groupe, Opendoor, GOAT, NYX, Crunchyroll, and more. Its industry-transforming CEOs and C-Suite executives include Amrita Ahuja (Block) and Harpreet Marwaha, Deborah Liu (Ancestry), Dominic Ng (East West Bank), Helen Lin (Publicis Groupe), Shiva Rajaraman (OpenSea), First Close Partners, philanthropies like Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and many more. Finally, its cultural leaders focus on creatives who’ve built their own successful businesses like lifestyle icons Michelle Phan, Padma Lakshmi, and Prabal Gurung; Grammy-winning musicians Anderson .Paak, Agnez Mo, Dumbfoundead, Far East Movement, and Transparent Arts; actors Ally Maki and the Asian American Girl Club, Bowen Yang, Daniel Dae Kim, and Ronny Chieng; and many more.
In addition to smart capital, Gold House augments portfolio companies through the nation’s largest invitation-only API founder network (Gold House Futures), industry-focused accelerators (including its first, Gold Rush), and marketing benefits through its extensive film studio, TV network, and streaming platform partnerships (most recently seen in Pixar’s Turning Red). Its newest Gold Rush class includes a former consultant designing a hospitality app for short-term rental hosts to engage business travelers; a team cooking up the first savory protein bar bringing global flavors like Japanese Miso and Indian Masala to mainstream audiences; and a trailblazing founder focused on creating more sustainable, direct access to fresh seafood by disintermediating an antiquated market, starting with Alaskan salmon. Additional acceleration programs include its partnership with Panda Express to invest in and scale emerging food and beverage brands; female founder-focused investment tracks with Piedmont Chairwoman, Julia Gouw; and educational and promotional partnerships with Condé Nast and Meta.
“Since we launched Gold Rush less than three years ago, our alums have raised over $370 million in follow-on funding, with women representing over half of our founder participants and the ethnic diversity of each cohort reflecting API representation in the U.S. We’re excited to welcome the newest Gold Rush class alongside corporate partners and advisors that will help them scale while accounting for their unique experiences and insights as founders of API descent. Our bottom line: to make truly great investments, we need to do more than identify exceptional economic potential — we need to align on cultural understanding and heart,” said Megan Ruan, General Partner of Gold House Ventures, who also co-founded Gold Rush.
Interested founders and investors may visit goldhouse.org/Ventures to learn more about the Gold House Futures and Venture Capital Network.
About Gold House
Gold House is the leading Asian and Pacific Islander (API) changemaker community, fighting together for socioeconomic equity. Through a suite of innovative programs and platforms, the organization unites, invests in, and promotes API creative and companies. Founded in 2018 to unify the API community through the launch of Crazy Rich Asians, it has since become the first API call for every film studio and streaming platform for cultural consultation, investing in the next generation of top creatives, creative project launches, and more. To learn more, visit www.goldhouse.org or follow @GoldHouseCo on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.