Backstage Capital Freezes New Investments

Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm, has reduced its workforce as it struggles to grow in these difficult times. The company has shrunk from 12 to three people, according to managing partner and founder Arlan Hamilton in a podcast on Sunday. According to TechCrunch, the layoff occurred after Backstage Capital narrowed its investment strategy to only participate in follow-on rounds of existing portfolios.

"It's not that I feel like there's any sort of failure on the fund side, on the firm's side, on Backstage's side, it's that this could have been avoided if systems were different if the system we work within were different," Hamilton said during the podcast.

She said that "there will be people who take this negatively or will take this as us not being active, and it is anything but".

"It's been a depressing, deflating time," she says of the changes. According to the report, Hamilton stated that she still intends to grow Backstage's assets under management to more than $100 million.

Backstage Capital, based in Los Angeles, has invested in nearly 200 companies led by underrepresented founders. As VC funding evaporates amid an economic slowdown, tech startups around the world have laid off over 20,000 employees since April, with over 10,000 jobs lost at Indian startups led by edtech platforms.