Twitter Backed Minority-Led VC Firms But Has Now Dropped Its Support Team, Leaving Fund M

By Josh Rodgers

ELON MUSK’S acquisition of Twitter has been a rollercoaster experience

The purchase of the social media giant came with significant changes including massive layoffs and payments for the once-coveted blue check.

Not to mention, AfroTech reported that one of the significant shifts with Musk as CEO was the closing of Twitter’s Africa office. The Ghana office had only 20 employees but was closed just days after officially opening.

Twitter Backed Minority-Led VC Firms But Has Now Dropped Its Support Team, Leaving Fund Managers Scrambling

Surprising moves like the layoffs and added restrictions have been back to back as Musk navigates his power leading the company. A recent development in the shake-up is the dissolution of its corporate development team that supported minority-owned venture capital firms.

According to Forbes, Twitter could be backing out of its promise of millions to venture capital firms and small businesses.

It All Started Well

Forbes reports that Twitter began investing in firms more than two years before Elon Musk took over the organization. Many organizations that received financial backing were minority- and woman-owned.

The social media outlet, led by Twitter’s corporate development team, dispensed $1 million to $2 million in checks to smaller venture capital (VC) firms. In addition, Twitter would buy about 10 to 12 startups each year. So investing in VC firms would help support underrepresented small businesses and create targets for what type of small businesses the company would acquire next. Forbes reports this method of investing also helps its diversity goals.

“Our diversity goals weren’t about being woke, they were about how people used our service and making sure we didn’t dilute our [company-wide staffing] diversity goals through M+A,” one former Twitter employee said to Forbes. “It was working.”

The Tides Began To Change

And while everything seemed to be going well for Twitter’s work in this area, things took a turn under