Recast Accelerate is an educational and financial support cohort program of Recast Capital, a women-owned venture capital platform, designed to “drive the success of women and nonbinary-led” venture capital funds in their early stages of development. ¹ Recast Accelerate is largely focused on supporting women and non-binary people in management and partnership positions in the venture capital industry. Early support for Recast Accelerate came from a Melinda French Gates company named Pivotal Ventures. ¹

Program

The Recast Accelerate program began its first cohort program in 2023. ¹ The program was created to “test a hypothesis” of whether “increasing female representation in VC general partner positions” would in turn lead to an increase in venture capital funding for female founders. The program provides support through education, executive coaching, and financial support to women and non-binary cohort participants. In addition, Recast Accelerate provides around $100,000 to each fund to help participants build their firm, including legal, tax, and administration expenses. ² Participants also receive access to Recast Capital’s Enablement Program, a virtual education program focused on “building community and providing strategic guidance.” ³

New Venture Fund

Recast Accelerate is a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund (NVF), ¹ a 501(c)(3) funding nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center advocacy projects. The New Venture Fund also is a fiscal sponsorship organization, providing support for other left-of-center organizations during their initial incubation period. The organization focuses on social and environmental change in its grantmaking. In 2022, the New Venture Fund reported $755,584,165 in revenues and $825,032,231 in expenses, with $1,036,457,607 in total assets and 1,075 employees. ⁴ The New Venture Fund is the largest nonprofit organization in the Arabella Advisors network of left-wing “dark money.” ^{5 6}

People

The two co-founders and managing partners of Recast Accelerate are Courtney McCrea and Sara Zulkosky. ⁷

Prior to founding Recast Capital, Courtney McCrea was managing director of Weathergage Capital as well as general partner with Weston Presidio. McCrea is a Kauffman fellow of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (EMKF). McCrea serves as chair of the Episcopal Impact Fund Investment Committee. ⁷

Prior to co-founding Recast Capital, Sara Zulkosky worked as a venture partner at Greenspring Associates (now known as the StepStone Group). Zulkosky is also a Kauffman Fellow. ⁷

Recast Accelerate also has two directors, Caroline Fernandez and Ava Alemazkoor. ⁸

1. “Recast Capital Announces 2023 Inaugural Cohort for the Accelerate Program.” PR Newswire, August 31, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/recast-capital-announces-2023-inaugural-cohort-for-the-accelerate-program-301914877.html.
2.  “Accelerate the Change.” Recast Capital. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://recastcapital.com/accelerate/.
3. “Enablement Program.” Recast Capital. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://recastcapital.com/enablement-program/#overview.
4.  “New Venture Fund.” Cause IQ. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/new-venture-fund,205806345/.
5. Rojc, Philip. “Big Builds: A Look inside Arabella Advisors.” Inside Philanthropy, January 14, 2020. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2019/1/14/big-builds-a-look-inside-arabella-advisors.
6. Thayer, Parker. “Meet the Dark Money Network Quietly Transforming America.” Capital Research Center, June 25, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/meet-the-dark-money-network-quietly-transforming-america/.
7. “Team.” Recast Capital. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://recastcapital.com/about-us/#team.
8. Dorbian, Iris. “Recast Taps Fernandez as Programming Director and Alemazkoor as Network Director.” Venture Capital Journal, August 18, 2023. https://www.venturecapitaljournal.com/recast-taps-fernandez-as-programming-director-and-alemazkoor-as-network-director/.