This is the fifth time since 2015 we have published hard numbers around the gender and ethnic makeup of the venture capitalists wielding the most influence over startup fundraising. We included only individuals who lead deals, meaning they typically write checks and sit on startup boards. We gathered data on approximately 1,000 senior investment professionals at more than 100 of the biggest, most recognizable VC firms that invest in U.S. startups. We scored each firm based on the proportion of underrepresented individuals who are key decision makers, giving extra weight to the least represented groups, such as Black investors. Most firms didn’t provide information about partners’ ethnicity, so we used Census Bureau classifications of ethnicity, which don’t distinguish between white and Middle Eastern, for instance. For more on our methodology, please follow the accompanying link.