Backstage Capital, the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm focusing on underrepresented founders in tech, lost two key backers for the $36 million fund it launched in May of last year, Axios reported Tuesday.

Reporter Dan Primack said Arlan Hamilton’s firm was unable to raise the fund and transitioned to an accelerator model — which operates in four cities, including Philadelphia — and laid off an undetermined number of staffers. From the report:

Hamilton says that “two separate anchor investors fell through” for the fund, which was to focus on startups founded by black women, and that Backstage also lost out on a $5 million “operations deal” with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, after CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan.

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