J.P. Morgan Asset Management wants to help veterans break into one of the toughest sectors — venture capital. J.P. Morgan’s asset management division said it will commit $25 million to five or more veteran-owned venture capital funds as part of its Project Spark program. Started in 2021, the program supports diverse-owned emerging managers in alternative investments. Asset managers and allocators have made big commitments to diversity, particularly over the last two years. Still, these firms have struggled to win allocations. According to a December Knight Foundation survey, only 1.4 percent of $82 trillion in assets, the study’s sample set, is controlled by diverse-owned firms.

Mark Elliot, head of military and veteran affairs at JPMorgan Chase, told II that veterans make good general partners at venture capital firms because they are “very entrepreneurial in their thinking.” Veterans were required to solve complex problems during military services, which “dovetails well with being an entrepreneur and lends well to being a venture capitalist.” Helping veterans in venture capital is part of the bank’s effort to build a broader ecosystem for them to navigate different career possibilities, he added.

But like other underrepresented groups in investment management, veterans often have limited access to pipeline programs, which have been helpful for women and others, and face challenges with fundraising. According to Ashley Hawkes, who is in charge of business growth and entrepreneurship of military and veterans affairs at JPMorgan Chase, it is not easy to translate military backgrounds in a way that “resonates with the corporate sector.” Compared to their peers who started corporate jobs in the early twenties, veterans who want to enter the investment industry need to demonstrate a greater level of determination, she added.

Read the full article about veterans in venture capital by Hannah Zhang at Institutional Investor.