Wall Street avoids a reckoning over #MeToo—and mandatory arbitration

Five years after #MeToo went viral, the financial industry has remained relatively untouched by any sort of visible reckoning over gender bias or sexual harassment. That was supposed to change this spring, as TCW Group and Goldman Sachs prepared to defend themselves in court against two high-profile and long-simmering lawsuits.

But once again, Wall Street has managed to avoid a public airing of employee complaints about sexism and harassment. Former TCW employee Sara Tirschwell has quietly settled her five-year-old lawsuit against the bond trading giant, before a trial that was scheduled to start Monday, I reported for Fortune this week.

Tirschwell had alleged that her supervisor sexually harassed her and that the company fired her in retaliation for reporting it; TCW had denied the allegations. Now TCW and Tirschwell have “resolved their litigation pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement,” spokespeople for both parties told me.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is also seeking to pay around $200 million, to settle a much larger and older legal challenge, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. A class action lawsuit alleging gender bias at Goldman is scheduled to go to trial next month; lead plaintiff Cristina Chen-Oster, a former Goldman Sachs vice president, first filed a federal complaint against the bank in 2005—18 years ago—and has since been joined by 1,400 past and current Goldman employees. (Goldman has denied the allegations; representatives for both the bank and Chen-Oster declined to comment on reports of the settlement talks.)

Whatever happens with the Goldman Sachs lawsuit, the existence and longevity of both cases is pretty extraordinary for Wall Street, as I wrote for Term Sheet last fall:

Big banks, like many large employers, often require their employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements, which keep all kinds of workplace disputes out of court—and out of the public eye. About 60 million workers are subject to forced arbitration, according to a 2018 report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

Both Chen-Oster and Tirschwell told me that they were only able to file suit—and talk to me—because they hadn’t been required to sign arbitration clauses when they worked for the companies they’re now suing. And it’s clear that this was the exception, rather than the rule: In an almost 30-year career on Wall Street, “TCW is the only place that I worked where I didn’t have an arbitration clause,” as Tirschwell puts it.

Chen-Oster told me then, “Arbitration doesn’t allow for things to be more broadly broadcasted, or for there to be greater consequences.” Whatever ends up happening with her case, she and Tirschwell have already spent years increasing public awareness of the culture still facing many women on Wall Street. “Change happens slowly, and then all at once,” Tirschwell told me last fall. “Change is still happening very slowly on Wall Street—but maybe this is the moment.”

See you tomorrow,

Maria Aspan
Email: maria.aspan@fortune.com
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Correction: In yesterday’s newsletter, we erroneously wrote that Raisley acquired Aplos when in fact it was the other way around. Aplos, owned by ASG, acquired Raisely, a Melbourne, Australia-based nonprofit fundraising platform. We regret the error.

Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Novidea, a Netanya, Israel-based insurance software solution provider, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by Cross Creek, Israel Growth Partners, KT Squared, and JAL Ventures. 

- Redaptive, a Denver-based energy-as-a-service provider, raised an additional $50 million in Series E funding from Linse Capital. 

- Duetti, a New York-based music financing platform, raised $32 million in funding. Viola Ventures, Viola Credit, Roc Nation, Untitled, and Presight Capital invested in the round. 

- Pando, a San Jose-based supply chain and logistics SaaS company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Iron Pillar led the round and was joined by Uncorrelated Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Next47. 

- hackajob, a London- and New York-based technical hiring platform, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Volition Capital led the round and was joined by AXA Venture Partners and Foresight. 

- Kinnos, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based disinfectant company, raised $15 million in funding. Pioneer Healthcare Partners, Kapor Center, Partnership Fund for NYC, and others invested in the round.

- OpenEnvoy, an Oakland-based accounts payable automation platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. RRE Ventures led the round and was joined by Coelius Capital, Hack VC, Riot Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures.             

- Range, a McLean, Va.-based online wealth management platform, raised $12 million in funding led by Gradient Ventures. 

- Openlayer, a San Francisco-based A.I. testing platform, raised $4.8 million in seed funding. Quiet Capital led the round and was joined by YCombinator, Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger, Instacart cofounder Max Mullen, and others. 

- Tristero, a San Francisco-based dark pool technology company, raised $4.8 million in seed funding co-led by General Catalyst and Steel Perlot.

- Viatu, a Zug, Switzerland-based travel booking company, raised $1 million in seed funding led by Ndoto. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

- AIM MRO Holdings, backed by AE Industrial Partners, acquired Gerard Poly Mouldings, a masking products designer and manufacturer for aerospace and gas turbine engines. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Funds managed by Blackstone GP Stakes acquired a minority stake in FTV, a San Francisco-based growth equity firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- KKR agreed to acquire CoolIT, a Calgary, Canada-based liquid cooling solutions provider for computing environments. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Wealth Enhancement Group acquired Heacock & Jones Financial Services, a Dubuque, Iowa-based registered investment advisor. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

OTHER

- Talentism, a Westport, Conn.-based organizational transformation and implementation platform, raised $1.5 million in revenue-based funding from Decathlon Capital Partners.

- ICR acquired Lumina Communications, a San Jose-based PR firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

SPAC

- Avertix Medical, an Eatontown, N.J.-based coronary disease management company, agreed to go public via a merger with BIOS Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC. The deal is valued at approximately $195 million. 

Clarification, May 5, 2023: The online version of this newsletter has been updated to clarify that Talentism raised $1.5 million in revenue-based funding, not equity funding.