PayPal Holdings Inc. unlawfully excludes Asian Americans and others from a multi-million dollar program that invests in Black and Latinx-led emerging venture-capital funds, according to a federal lawsuit filed in New York.

The suit filed Thursday was brought by Nisha Desai, an Asian American woman who founded and runs Andav Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm, who says she sought inclusion in PayPal’s program but was “denied equal consideration—along with significant funding at a crucial time—because of her race.”

Desai is represented by Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, a law firm that has represented the American Alliance for Equal Rights, an advocacy …