Arian Simone

Arian Simone co-founded Fearless Fund in 2019 alongside Ayana Parsons and Keisha Knight Pulliam, after struggling to find investors who looked like her while raising capital for her own retail business.

The fund has provided venture financing, grants and financial education to more than 40 Black-women-led companies. In August 2023 the American Alliance for Equal Rights, led by Edward Blum, sued the fund’s non-profit arm over its Strivers Grant Contest, which was open only to Black women.

The parties settled in September 2024 and the case was dismissed. As part of the agreement Fearless Fund permanently ended the grant contest rather than opening it to all applicants — a settlement that avoided a court ruling with the potential to reach every race-conscious funding programme in the country. Simone has continued the fund’s work since, launching a Fearless Global Initiative in 2025.

How she invests

Fearless combined three things most vehicles keep separate: venture investment, grants, and financial education. That structure is also what created the legal exposure. The lawsuit did not target which companies the fund chose to invest in — it targeted a publicly advertised contest with written eligibility criteria. Ending the contest rather than widening it closed the case without producing binding precedent against the rest of the model.

What an individual investor can take from it

For anyone designing a fund, syndicate or grant programme with an equity mandate, the line this settlement drew is worth understanding before publishing anything. A discretionary investment decision and an advertised programme with stated eligibility criteria are treated very differently, even where the underlying intent is identical. Which side of that line a vehicle sits on is determined by how its terms are written and promoted — a question for counsel at the design stage, not after a complaint arrives.

Where the lesson stops

The legal position described here is specific to the United States and to the facts of one settled case, which set no binding precedent. Rules on targeted funding differ substantially by jurisdiction and continue to move. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the distinction between a discretionary investment and an advertised programme should be tested with a lawyer in the relevant country before any vehicle is structured or promoted.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Fearless Fund settles discrimination lawsuit ↗
• AJC — A year after settling, Fearless Fund expands its mission ↗
• TIME — The Fearless Fund lawsuit is about more than just this case ↗

Facts here reflect public reporting at time of writing — roles and fund affiliations change; verify current details directly with Fearless Fund.

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