These Venture Capitalists are Opening Doors for Women-Led Businesses
It’s been a uniquely challenging year but even under normal circumstances, securing financial investment for your business can feel like an uphill battle. There are already longstanding roadblocks (financial and otherwise) for women, Black women especially, and venture capital firms aren’t doing much to help. According to the results of a 2019 Morgan Stanley survey, the VC industry still doesn’t prioritize “investing in women and multicultural founded startups, despite acknowledging the opportunity that they could be missing, and when they do encounter a woman or multicultural founder, VCs are rigid in applying their definitions of ‘fit’ and are unlikely to educate themselves about the product, market segment or opportunity before them.”
In other words, it’s a systemic problem that will require major dismantling, followed by an active commitment to backing a more diverse range of businesses. But for now, and unsurprisingly, female venture capitalists are literally putting their money where their mouths are by taking on crucial roles within traditional VC’s or simply starting their own. If you’re preparing your pitch or hoping to catch the eye of a venture capital fund for your business or brand, here are some women to keep on your radar.
Brit Morin
The former BlogHer speaker and Brit + Co co-founder is also a venture capitalist for Offline Ventures and creator of Self Made, an online program for women who want to create a new business or scale their existing one.
Katie Jacobs Stanton
Stanton is the founder and general partner of Moxxie Ventures, a firm that bets on founders across a wide range of sectors, including consumer brands and health tech.
Samara Mejia Hernandez
Hernandez is the founder partner of Chingona Ventures, which invests in overlooked businesses that aren’t too far into their funding efforts.
Alison Rosenthal
If your business is solving problems in an overlooked and underserved market, you’ll want to check out Leadout Capital, of which Rosenthal is the founder and managing partner.
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Arian Simone
Simone is a General Partner alongside Keisha Knight Pulliam and Ayana Parsons for the Fearless Fund, which invests in Black women-founded businesses.
Maria Toler Velissaris
Velissaris is the founder and a managing partner of SteelSky Ventures, which invests in companies that grow and advance the work being done in women’s health.
Mallun Yen
Operator Collective, founded by Yen, is truly disrupting the VC space with a diverse team of experts that target b2b companies who need help growing and scaling their teams.
Serena Williams
Since 2014, Serena Ventures has focused on taking early-stage companies and novice founders to the next level with financial backing and more.
Sarah Kunst
Kunst is the Managing Director of Cleo Capital, a venture fund she founded in 2018 to support pre-seed businesses and diverse founders.
Brianne Kimmel
Kimmel’s worklife Ventures is breaking all of the rules with an unconventional approach to funding for one-of-a-kind founders.
Aileen Lee
Lee is the founder and Managing Partner of Cowboy Ventures, which invests in early-seed technology companies.
Pocket Sun + Elizabeth Galbut
Sun and Galbut are the brains behind SoGal Ventures, arguably the biggest female-led venture capital firm in the world, with over 50 chapters around the globe.
Martina Welkhoff
Welkhoff is a founding partner at Women in XR, which invests in early-stage computing companies with female leadership.
Sutain Dong + Anu Duggal
Dong and Duggal’s Female Founders Fund is all about equipping and empowering women-founded businesses.
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Arlan Hamilton
Hamilton is the brilliant founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm that prioritizes businesses founded by people who are LGBTQ+, women, and/or of color.
Monique Idlett Moseley
Reign Ventures, of which Moseley is the founder, focuses on women- and minority-led startup companies.
Monique Woodard
Mented Cosmetics and Blavity are just two companies who owe some of their success to Woodard, which invests in companies at the intersection of technology and consumer.
Kesha Cash
Cash is the founder and General Partner of Impact America Fund, which invests in minority-owned companies.
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