💸 Unconventional Ventures Raises Its First Fund to Back Underrepresented Founders in Europe
FemWealth Issue #68
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight ✨
Led by general partners Thea Messel and Nora Bavey, the Copenhagen-based VC firm Unconventional Venture has raised its first fund of €30m to back underrepresented founders in Europe.
The fund will invest tickets ranging from €100k-700k in startups based in the Nordics and the rest of Europe at pre-seed and seed stage, with a focus on founders identifying as women, people of colour, immigrants and/or members of the LGTBQ+ community.
“These founders have been overlooked because of the market being so homogeneous, but their companies offer fantastic potential.” - Nora Bavey in a Bloomberg interview
Aiming to support startups that “have a positive environmental and social impact at the core of their business model,” the firm’s main investment areas are climate tech, healthtech, edtech and fintech. Its portfolio already has nine companies, including EasySize, Equality Check, Tangy Markets, ImagiLab, SaltX and Panion.
Pitch for funding here.
Read more: Unconventional Ventures launches €30m fund to invest in underrepresented founders
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: 💸 UK’s Oxford Quantum Circuits snaps up $47M Series A for ‘QaaS’ - With the fresh funding the company co-founded and led by Ilana Wisby plans to develop its patented 3D processor architecture Coaxmon, and the quantum-computing-as-a-service that will run on it.
💸 The Village secures €3.4 million to redefine early education through its childcare marketplace - The Warsaw-based startup founded and led by Aleksandra Kozera is on a mission to create a connected community of quality childcare that supports parents around the world.
“From the beginning, the vision and goal has been to create a village all over the world with committed moms, parents, nannies and teachers – enabling children to have an equal start. And education in so-called “villages” makes it possible. We are already achieving the snowflake effect, when some parents learn about the villages from others, enrol their children in them and open their places. We want to enable multi-dimensional support to open and run villages. That is why we build edtech products and create a marketplace.” - Aleksandra Kozera
💸 Pina Earth gets seed backing to grow sustainable forestry carbon credits - The startup co-founded and led by Dr. Gesa Biermann has closed a $2.5 million seed round. Its online platform helps European forest owners to get certified to sell carbon while also encouraging landowners to increase woodland biodiversity and future-proof their forests.
💸 Stockholm-based Freshsound scores €1.3 million for its original music licensing platform - Co-founded by Sara Larsson, Freshsound is building an original music licensing platform to fill a growing gap in the content marketing and streaming space.
VC: 💸 Endeavor Catalyst raises over $290 Million, backed by over 100+ high-impact entrepreneurs - The global impact investment firm co-founded and led by Linda Rottenberg has closed its largest fund to date. Since it started in 2012, Endeavor Catalyst has made 260+ investments in 35+ different markets across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, as well as underserved places in Europe and the United States.
💸 Pan-European Climentum Capital to launch a €150 million Fund to support innovators accelerating the green transition - The VC firm with bases in Copenhagen, Berlin and Stockholm invests in European startups that are dedicated to cutting down CO2 emissions in a concrete, measurable and sustainable way. Dörte Hirschberg and an experienced deep tech female VC (name yet unknown publically) are part of the founding team.
“Now is the time to invest in Climate Tech. We need to see results within the next decades and see momentum from all sides: governments and corporations are pushing for real change, the best talent is moving into the space and technology has developed massively”. - Dörte Hirschberg.
Math: 🏅Ukrainian Mathematician Becomes Second Woman to Win Prestigious Fields Medal - Maryna Viazovska, a number theorist who works on the geometry of spheres, is among the four winners of the 2022 Fields Medals, one of the highest honours in mathematics that is conventionally awarded to people aged under 40. Based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Viazovska is the second woman ever to earn the award, after Maryam Mirzakhani, in 2014.
Creator Economy: 🌐 Learn How to Build for the Creator Economy - Li Jin has published (for free) the videos and materials of her 4-week long course about the creator economy covering the history of the industry, creators as businesses, web3, future predictions, and more.
Fashion: ♻️ Eileen Fisher wants to tackle fashion waste with open-access report on circular supply chains - The Eileen Fisher foundation in partnership with Pentatonic, a sustainable design and technology consultancy, will release a report calling for changes to the supply chain to reduce textile waste.
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
Inclusive Language Around Abortion Costs Us Nothing and Makes the Movement Stronger
“What if they allowed themselves to accept that inclusive language doesn’t detract from the fight for bodily autonomy but instead adds more people to its ranks? What if we all stopped letting the loudest voices on the so-called left dictate what’s possible for all of us and instead sent a clear message that we won’t be divided—and we’ll never stop fighting for the protection and equality of the most marginalized among us?”
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 Wish you a wonderful Sunday!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth