Arlan Hamilton
Managing Partner @ Backstage Capital
Los Angeles, United States
Arlan Hamilton is a seed investor at Backstage Capital in Los Angeles focused on Software and FinTech. Arlan Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $12 million and invested in more than 150startup companies led by underestimated founders. In 2018, they launched a four-city accelerator program in Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, and London.Arlan is the author of, It's About Damn Time, an inspirational and tactical business book for budding entrepreneurs and aspiring investors. She hosts the popular podcast, Your First Million, and has been featured on CNN, PBS, and others, and in 2019 became the first Black woman to have an entirely devoted episode of Emily Chang's Bloomberg 1.0.In October 2018, Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine as the first Black woman non-celebrity to do so (following Oprah, Serena, and Beyonce). In 2019, Arlan and her mother, Mrs. Earline Butler-Sims, announced their new scholarship program, which kicked off with Oxford University's first-ever undergraduate scholarship for a Black student, as well as a commitment to fund a full-ride scholarship for a Psychology student at Mrs. Sims' alma mater, HBCU Dillard University.
- Total investments:
- 26
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 4%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Arlan Hamilton invests in
Stages Arlan Hamilton invests in
Countries Arlan Hamilton invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
| Personal phone | ||
| Socials |
Round size
- Seed
- $1.5M–$6.3M
- Pre-Seed
- $100k–$2M
- Series A
- $20M–$27M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 7 (27%)
- FinTech 5 (19%)
- Education 3 (12%)
- Communities 3 (12%)
- Health Care 3 (12%)
Stage
- Seed 14 (54%)
- Pre-Seed 7 (27%)
- Series A 2 (8%)
- Funding Round 2 (8%)
- Series C 1 (4%)
Country
- United States 23 (88%)
- Sweden 1 (4%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| EdLight lets teachers quickly see and give feedback on authentic student work. | $4M / Seed / Mar 27, 2024 | ||
| CloudNine leverages our AI tool to augmented data management by solving interoperability issues for siloed enterprises. Saving months of time and valuable resources enabling non-technical users the ability to take advantage of data driven decisions without any technical expertise. Optimizing AI for sophisticated analytics, data sharing, and dataprivacy. CloudNine AI was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Phoenix Arizona with offices in Santa Monica, California, The Netherlands, Canada and Geneva Switzerland. | $100K / Pre-Seed / Jun 05, 2023 | ||
| Patientory is empowering people to take charge of their own health. They’re revolutionizing the way doctors and patients interact and gain access to information, cutting out all layers and processes that currently are stumbling blocks in care coordination. They connect doctors, care providers, and consumers all within a single, secure platform –creating a care team that works together to provide the best care. | $1.5M / Seed / Apr 05, 2023 | ||
| Maven is an online platform for cohort-based courses, enabling experts to create and teach engaging, live online classes on AI, product, engineering, design & more. Founded by Gagan Biyani (Udemy co-founder), Wes Kao (co-founder of altMBA), and Shreyans Bhansali (co-founder of Socratic), Maven empowers instructors with tools to build, market,and scale high-quality learning experiences. | $25M / Sep 15, 2022 | ||
| Shop Latinx is the marketplace of lifestyle products made by and for Latinx. | $1M / Pre-Seed / Oct 15, 2021 | ||
| MicroAcquire is a startup acquisition marketplace that helps startups find buyers and get acquired. Their goal is to help 1,000+ entrepreneurs get acquired without fees and commissions and headaches. MicroAcquire was established in 2020 and is based in San Francisco, CA. | $6.3M / Seed / Jul 06, 2021 | ||
| Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire) is the world's largest startup acquisition marketplace that helps startups and online businesses find buyers and get acquired. Their goal is to help all entrepreneurs get acquired without fees and commissions or headaches.Acquire.com (formerly MicroAcquire) was established in 2020 and is based in SanFrancisco, CA. | $6.3M / Seed / Jul 06, 2021 | ||
| Building smarter cities - starting with fully autonomous and modular smart houses. | $100K / Pre-Seed / Jun 30, 2021 | ||
| Maven is an online platform for cohort-based courses, enabling experts to create and teach engaging, live online classes on AI, product, engineering, design & more. Founded by Gagan Biyani (Udemy co-founder), Wes Kao (co-founder of altMBA), and Shreyans Bhansali (co-founder of Socratic), Maven empowers instructors with tools to build, market,and scale high-quality learning experiences. | $20M / Series A / May 20, 2021 | ||
| We know, you work hard to create the right atmosphere for your attendees to make strong connections yet they just don’t mix at mixers. This phenomenon is known as homophily [huh-mof-uh-lee]. Mixtroz solves this. You can layer in Mixtroz any place 50 or more are gathered to increase engagement and collect data. Connecting your attendees whilegathering data becomes easier with Mixtroz | $1M / Seed / May 06, 2021 | ||
| See all 26 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Backstage Capital
Backstage Capital is a venture capital fund investing in the best startups led by underrepresented founders in the U.S. The firm was founded in 2015 by Arlan Hamilton and is headquartered in West Hollywood, California, United States.
Backstage Capital Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Brittany Davis
General Partner
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Susan Kimberlin
Founding Limited Partner, Venture Partner
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Adam Mutschler
Mentor
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Andre Blackman
Mentor
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Paul Griffiths
Limited Partner and Angel Investor
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FAQ
What does Arlan Hamilton invest in?
Arlan Hamilton invests primarily in Software, FinTech and Education startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 26 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What round sizes does Arlan Hamilton invest in?
Arlan Hamilton typically joins rounds of $1.5M–$6.3M at Seed, $100k–$2M at Pre-Seed and $20M–$27M at Series A. These are whole funding-round sizes, not Arlan Hamilton's own check, which is rarely disclosed: the 10th–90th percentile of the confirmed public funding rounds Arlan Hamilton took part in.
How do I contact Arlan Hamilton?
Public channels for Arlan Hamilton include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Arlan Hamilton last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Arlan Hamilton closed in Mar 2024. Shizune tracks 26 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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