GE Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of industrial and power technology producer General Electric, has begun beta testing a content portal called Flux that is intended to promote occupational diversity and inclusiveness.
Flux will operate in partnership with Ideo CoLab, the collaborative impact arm of design consultancy Ideo, providing crowdsourced resources to help companies harness the benefits of an inclusive workplace where all employees are encouraged to reach their full potential.
The initiative is the result of a 12-week collaborative research process conducted by GE Ventures in 2018 to identify obstacles to diversity in startups and venture capital teams.
The study estimates approximately 11% of investors are female at present while fewer than 1% are of underrepresented ethnicities.
GE Ventures’ process featured representations from 120 startups, investors, non-profit organisations and universities at design workshops hosted by GE Ventures and its partners in Chicago, London, Boston, New York and Menlo Park.
Flux’s debut follows recent reports suggesting General Electric could divest GE Ventures as part of a wider corporate reorganisation, with venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures rumoured to be in the frame to pick up its assets.