👩🏻💻 Leading Investors in US & European Tech
FemWealth Issue #56
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
This week, Forbes released the renowned Midas List of the world’s best venture capital investors in 2022. It features eleven top female venture capitalists, including Mary Meeker, Mar Hershenson, Kirsten Green, Ann Miura-Ko, Luciana Lixandru, and Reshma Sohoni.
Here’s a sneak peek into the key investments of the leading VCs in US and European Tech:
Mary Meeker, Founding General Partner of BOND | View profile
Key Investments: Airbnb, Stripe, Canva, Instacart, Spotify, Plaid, Snap, Uber, On, Pinterest, LegalZoom, DocuSign
Mar Hershenson, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Pear VC | View profile
Key Investments: DoorDash, Guardant Health, Gusto, Branch Metrics, Aurora Solar, Heap, Affinity, Senti Bio, Memebox
Kirsten Green, Founder & Managing Partner of Forerunner | View profile
Key Investments: Chime, Faire, Warby Parker, Hims & Hers, Glossier, Curated, Prose, Flow Commerce, HotelTonight, Homebase, The Farmer's Dog
Ann Miura-Ko, Co-founder and Partner of Floodgate | View profile
Key investments: Lyft, Bolt Financial, StarkWare, Monthly, Refinery29, Accompany, Emotive
Luciana Lixandru, Partner at Sequoia and Co-head of Arc | View profile
Key investments: UiPath, Miro, Deliveroo, Hopin, Vinted, Xentral
Reshma Sohoni, Founding Partner of Seedcamp | View profile
Key investments: UiPath, Revolut, Wise, Hopin, Sorare, Pleo, Wefox, Curve, Rossum
Read more:
The Midas List 2022: Return Of The Top Female Investors - Features the investors mentioned above, plus top female VCs in Asia.
The Midas List: 2022 - Full list of the top 100 investors worldwide
FemWealth Favorites ❤️
Startups: 💸 Mental health app Real raises $37M Series B - The startup founded and led by Ariela Safira plans to use the new funding to expand its platform and add more resources, therapists, and comprehensive therapist-created programs about mental health issues. The round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation from returning investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Female Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures, and BBG Ventures.
💸 Nurse-assisting robotics firm Diligent raises $30M - The startup co-founded by Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu is focused on expanding automated support for clinical teams.
💸 Slope brings on new CFO, customers, capital as it rises to offer businesses buy now, pay later - Slope, co-founded by Alice Deng, provides businesses an easy way to offer buy now, pay later services. The startup has raised $24 million in Series A financing, co-led by Union Square Ventures and Monashees.
💸 Beam Impact raises $13.3M to turn everyday purchases into a way to support social causes - The startup co-founded by Viveka Hulyalkar and Alex Sadhu connects consumers with brands that are supporting social causes and allows them to donate a portion of their purchases to a nonprofit of their choice, at no cost to them. Beam has partnered with more than 500 nonprofits, including Black Girls Do STEM, Women’s Refugee Commission, Center for Black Women’s WellnessRainforest Trust, One Tree Planted, First Nations Nutrition Program, Stop AAPI Hate, Child Mind Institute.
“We’re on a mission to create what loyalty would look like if it were designed for today’s customers. The way we’re doing that is by connecting brands and consumers over the values they share instead of just relying on transactional discounts.” - Viveka Hulyalkar
💸 Glow Labs raises seed round to help NFT creators reward their loyal customers - The startup co-founded by Annie Reardon and Renee Russo develops a white-label software that allows companies and creators to build their own loyalty rewards programs on the blockchain. It raised $4.15 million in Seed funding led by Harlem Capital with participation from Forerunner Ventures’ Kirsten Green, Female Founders Fund, and Human Ventures.
💸 Israeli Startup Salignostics Raises $8M in Series A Funding to Take Its Saliva-based Pregnancy Test to Market - Salignostics was co-founded by Dr. Raluca Cohen, who serves as Chief Scientific Officer.
💸 How Parfait aims to use AI to disrupt the $13 billion wig market - Parfait - co-founded by Isoken Igbinedion, Ifueko Igbinedion, Marlyse Reeves, and Simone Kendle - leverages AI to better customize wigs. The company comes out of beta with a waitlist of more than 10,000 customers after recently announcing $5 million in a Seed round led by Upfront Ventures and Serena Ventures.
“In an era where technology began making the lives of everyday people easier with driverless vehicles, smartphones, improving our ability to connect with people, there’s little attention being paid to solve problems for marginalized communities.” - Isoken Igbinedion
🦄 India’s ‘Unicorn Couple’ Aim for First Startup IPO Within a Year - OfBusiness and Oxyzo Financial Services co-founder Ruchi Kalra and her husband built their respective startups into enterprises with at least $1 billion valuation.
“The companies are both ready for public markets and at the right, opportune time, over the six months to two-year period, you will see both companies go public” - Ruchi Kalra
VC: 💸 Leadout Capital raises $57.7 million to invest in ‘resilient’ founders - The firm co-founded and led by Alison Rosenthal is backed by LPs including Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Goldman Sachs’ Launch With GS, and Accolade Empowerment Fund. [Fortune $]
💸 2021 Review of Funding for Female Founders - An excellent report by Female Founders Fund, focused on female-led IPOs, growth rounds, and acquisitions. Key takeaway: In 2021, female-founded companies raised ~$55B across 3,871 deals, more than 2x the amount of total $ invested year over year.
💸 Seed Stage Fund Emmeline Ventures Launches with Plans to Invest in Femtech, Fintech and Sustainability - Emmeline Ventures is a multi-cultural, multi-generational, all-female early-stage investment fund, co-founded by La Keisha Landrum Pierre, Naseem Sayani, and Azin Radsan van Alebeek. The firm aims to raise $5-8M for its initial Fund with plans to invest in up to 20 businesses led by female and female-identifying founders.
“Our goal is to have an active role in changing the venture investing landscape. How? By funding companies that have a meaningful, positive impact on how women lead their lives in the future. We’re aiming to not only change the landscape of venture capital but also to change the type of companies that get funded.” - La Keisha Landrum Pierre, Founding General Partner
❓ Women still struggle to access VC funds. What needs to change?
Web3: 👩💻 Lydia Hylton on why she joined Bain Capital Crypto despite ‘that tweet’
👩🏻💻 ”I believe the NFT industry will profit enormously from women entering it in higher numbers” - Features Vanja Wikström, co-founder of the NFT project World of Alidia
👩🏼💻 Crypto isn’t just for bros: Meet the mothers entering the market
Women’s Health: 🇯🇵 Japan’s women-led start-ups are making period cups and the pill a thing - Female founders, such as Fermata’s Amina Sugimoto and Hiroko Nakamura, revolutionize the reproductive and sexual health and wellness industries in Japan.
🤰🏻 The Kindbody TC-1 - A three-part article series about the fertility startup The Kindbody, founded and led by Gina Bartasi and Dr. Fahimeh Sasan [TechCrunch $]
🤰🏾 How tech can help address the Black maternal health crisis
👩🏻🦳 Menopause Apps and Telehealth Services Can Help Women Take Charge, but Proceed With Caution
🎧 28ish Days Later - This 28-episode podcast - hosted by India Rakuse - unlocks the magic, mystery, science, and stories of the menstrual cycle.
Ukraine: 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, on Life Under Siege—and How Her Country Is Moving Forward
“The main thing is not to get used to the war—not to turn it into statistics. Continue going to protests, continue to demand that your governments take action. Ukrainians are the same as you, but just over a month ago, our lives changed radically. Ukrainians did not want to leave their homes. But so often they did not have homes left.” - Olena Zelenska
Fashion: 👏🏾 Oh, Baby! Rihanna’s Plus One. Rihanna on Pregnancy, Romance and How She’s Changed Fashion | Also, Rihanna is flipping the script on maternity wear
“I’m hoping that we were able to redefine what’s considered ‘decent’ for pregnant women. My body is doing incredible things right now, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that. This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy?” - Rihanna
Things to Ponder
UN: Attacks on Ukraine's women and children risk “destroying a generation”
The cost of authoritarianism on women’s health
“The international community can’t forget how vulnerable women and their children can become in conflict zones and must take them into account. Only then can we achieve peace, resolution, and respect for human rights for all, and accountability for the transgressors.”
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰
Wish you a happy Easter (if you’re celebrating) and an inspiring week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth