Diversity VC
Overview
Diversity VC had been thinking about a rebrand for close to a year. The organisation had been around since 2016, but much of the brand had stayed largely unchanged. What began as a need to refresh the website and visual identity quickly became a bigger strategic question: how could the brand better reflect the scale, clarity and credibility of the work?
At the same time, the organisation was navigating growth, the acquisition of Extend Ventures, and a tougher political climate around diversity work, particularly in the US. The brief was not to reinvent Diversity VC. It was to sharpen what people understood, protect the equity the brand had already built, and create a clearer platform for future growth.
The challenge
The existing brand no longer matched the maturity of the organisation. Meghan Stevenson-Krausz, CEO, Diversity VC, described a recurring issue: people would visit the website and still come away unclear on what Diversity VC actually did. The organisation was achieving meaningful impact, but the brand and messaging were not carrying that story clearly enough.
There was also a more sensitive question on the table. In the context of the current political climate, particularly in the US, the team had to consider whether to keep the word ‘diversity’ in the name, as it could hinder the work. The risk was real. The opportunity was to decide whether changing the name would protect the mission or dilute it.
What Bray St. did
Bray St. approached the work as a full strategic and creative process rather than a surface-level refresh. Early workshops focused on the organisation’s point of view, audience needs, language utilised and the gaps between how the team described the work and how it was being represented publicly.
That diagnosis revealed a disconnect. Stakeholders were not always sure whether Diversity VC was a fund, a network, a non-profit, or something else entirely. The work they were doing itself was strong, but the issue was translation. The challenge was not inventing a new story, but bringing Diversity VC’s existing narrative and strategic direction to the surface, so the brand more clearly reflected who they were, what they stood for and where they were going.
Clarified the organisation’s positioning and value proposition
Created stronger messaging structure and a more usable elevator pitch
Refreshed the visual identity while protecting brand recognition
Developed a website direction that did more of the heavy lifting in sales and stakeholder conversations
The naming decision
The project included a serious discussion about whether Diversity VC should change its name. After conversations with stakeholders and partners, the team decided to keep it. The reasons were both strategic and principled.
In the UK and Europe, the organisation had built significant recognition over nearly a decade. In a space where trust matters, changing the name risked losing equity. More importantly, Meghan and the team felt that holding their ground was aligned with their values. Rather than move with the political winds, they chose to back the meaning of the work and the credibility they had already earned.
Creative guard rails
The design needed to balance two worlds. It had to feel dynamic and contemporary enough for the venture ecosystem, but credible enough for corporates, development banks and institutional partners.
One principle mattered from the start: the identity should avoid tokenistic photography. Instead of leading with images of people, the creative system leaned into typography, shapes and graphic devices. That avoided the trap of selective representation and better reflected Diversity VC’s intersectional approach.
Results at a glance
Meghan Stevenson-Krausz
CEO, Diversity VC