💸 Meena Harris and Helen Min's Phenomenal Ventures Debuts to Back Early-Stage Startups
FemWealth Issue #99
Welcome to FemWealth, a weekly newsletter covering the latest and greatest news in women-led startups & venture capital, as well as women’s health and more. You can see all the posts, including the FemWealth Springboard and Founder’s Story series, here. To receive the latest issue straight into your inbox each Sunday, subscribe:
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 💸
Co-founded by Meena Harris and Helen Min, Phenomenal Ventures has closed a debut early-stage-focused fund totaling $6 million. Zabreen Khan, who started her investment career at Andreessen Horowitz and Lead Edge Capital, has also joined the team as a partner.
The US-based firm plans to back enterprise, fintech, and commerce startups at pre-seed to Series A stages. The average check size is around $100,000 to $500,000. The firm’s portfolio already includes 13 companies, nine of which are built by underrepresented founders.
“We feel really confident in our ability to succeed, but also wanted to start modestly and just do the work, despite some of the uncertainty around the economy.” - Mina Harris
“Every company that Meena and I have worked for — as startups employees at Facebook, Slack, Dropbox, Uber, Plaid, Quora, AngelList, they are literally all by non-underrepresented founders — our networks very much reflect those companies and the networks we were a part of for so long, to say we’re going to turn [down] that deal flow that surfaces because of the network we’re a part of (…). Venture is all about leveraging the unique access that you have.” - Helen Min
LPs include firms such as 776, Tribe Capital, Slow Ventures, and founders from tech companies including Dropbox, Quora, and Pinterest. Around 38% of LPs are founders or former founders. Nearly half of the fund’s investors self-identify as women, and 12% as Black.
Read more: Phenomenal Ventures, built by Meena Harris and Helen Min, debuts
FemWealth Springboard
In the latest edition of FemWealth Springboard, meet Mariah Freya, Co-Founder & CEO of Beducated
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
💸 Loam Bio raises $73m Series B from Lowercarbon, Acre, others to boost soil carbon - The Australian startup, co-founded by Tegan Nock (CPO), has developed a seed coating technique that supercharges plants’ ability to store carbon in the soil.
💸 Axena Health Secures $25M Series A Investment to Accelerate Global Adoption of Digital Health Treatment for Female Incontinence - Led by Eileen Maus, the commercial-stage medical device company focused on women’s pelvic health has raised a $25 million Series A round from AXA IM Alts through its Global Healthcare Private Equity Strategy.
💸 MDI Health raises $20 million for customized AI medication platform - Co-founded by Chief Scientist Dr. Dorit Dil Nahlieli, the Israeli startup’s platform allows clinicians to make informed decisions on prescriptions based on multi-drug interactions, individual medical history, lifestyle, and other key patient-specific factors. It raised a $20 million Series A round led by Intel Capital, with participation from Maverick Ventures Israel and previous investors Hanaco Ventures, Welltech Ventures, Arc Impact, Basad Ventures, Fresh.Fund, and Jumpspeed Ventures.
💸 Monad Labs raises $19M to grow its smart contract platform and improve the Ethereum space - Eunice Giarta is a co-founder and COO of Monad Labs. The seed funding round was led by Dragonfly Capital.
💸 Omie & Cie, a regenerative food brand, announces a €15 million Series A co-lead by 2050 and XAnge (in French) - Coline Burland and Joséphine Bournonville are two of the France-based company’s founders. Omie & Cie aims to create an alternative to mass distribution channels, promote regenerative agriculture and prove that it is possible to develop high-quality products at reasonable costs.
💸 UK-based Skin + Me secures over €11 million for its personalised prescription-based approach to skincare - The telehealth dermatology service, co-founded by Rachel Jones (Chief Customer Officer), has raised £10M in Series B funding from investors including Octopus Ventures.
💸 Twentyeight Health Announces $8.3 Million In Funding, Making Health Care More Accessible To BIPOC And Underserved Communities - The California-based startup, co-founded by Amy Fan (President and Chief Product Officer), is building a virtual healthcare platform for underprivileged women. It raised $8.3 million pre-Series A from RH Capital, Seae Ventures, Impact Engine, a.o.
💸 Natural Cycles Secures Strategic Investment From Samsung Ventures, Brings Cycle Tracking To Galaxy Watch5 Series - The Stockholm-based startup, co-founded and co-led by Dr. Elina Berglund Scherwitzl, has developed a device that uses body temperature and other key fertility indicators to determine a woman’s fertility status. It raised a $7 million round led by Samsung Ventures with participation from previous investors Heartcore Capital, Headline, Bonnier Ventures, and EQT Ventures.
“I can feel a shift as women demand access to more high-quality products that serve them and their individual needs. I’m confident more companies will follow the same path and we’ll see further investment and innovation within women’s health this year.” - Dr. Elina Berglund Scherwitzl
💸 Bibak is building the software stack to manage reusable food containers at scale - Co-founded and led by Yasmine Dahmane, the France-based company aims to put an end to single-use plastic food packaging and replace those with reusable food containers. In November 2022, it secured $6.4 million (€6 million) in an equity funding round and debt. Founders Future, MAIF Impact, Seed One, Notus Technologies SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean fund, and business angels participated in the round.
💸 Diversity, equity and inclusion technology firm Kanarys scores $5 million in Series A funding - Co-founded and led by Mandy Price, the US-based company has secured a $5M Series A funding round led by Seyen Capital, with participation from Portfolia Rising America, Rackhouse Venture Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, StartFast Ventures, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, and Tech Square Ventures.
💸 How one Brazilian startup’s pivot to corporate cards has paid off - Co-founded by Bianca Pereira, Portão 3 enables enterprise businesses to manage their corporate spending. The company has raised a $3.6 million seed funding round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures and joined by Endeavor Scale Up, Fincapital, Pareto, Flexport, and angel investors.
💸 Curated for You Closes $2.4 Million Seed Round to Deliver Next Evolution of Online Fashion Shopping - Katy Aucoin is the co-founder and CEO of the US-based, AI-powered lifestyle commerce company.
💸 Communityx Raises $2M in Seed Funding - Led by founder Chloe Cheyenne, the Los Angeles-based startup connects people around causes they are passionate about. The Seed round was led by Fearless Fund, with participation from Goodwater Capital, Techstars, and influencers like Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition, Baron Davis, and Matt Barnes.
💸 BuuPass raises $1.3M to scale mobility sector digitization in Africa - The Kenya-based startup, co-founded and co-led by Sonia Kabra, helps public transport operators to digitize their operations. The B2B2C full-stack marketplace provides operators with a bus management system (BMS) for managing their operations, inventory, and sales. The pre-seed funding round investors include Founders Factory Africa, FrontEnd Ventures, Adaverse, Gullit, Five35, Renew Capital, Changecom, XA Network, Ajim Capital, Artha Ventures, Daba Finance, Google Black Founders Fund, and several angel investors.
💸 Sheffield-based encryption startup Sitehop secures £1m - The UK-based startup, co-founded and led by Melissa Chambers, offers encryption hardware that companies can plug into their networks to manage encryption.
💸 Femtech Startup Salad Raises $270,000 In Pre-Seed Funding - Co-founded by Aruna Chawla and Karishma Rathaur, the India-based startup aims to change the landscape of how women take charge of their bodies.
“We are currently at the cusp of a revolutionary shake-up of the healthcare industry, wherein women are finally taking charge of the different factors contributing to their overall health and wellness. At Salad, we want to leverage technology to empower women to plug the information gap about their hormones and take the necessary steps to proactively manage their own health and lifestyle.” - Aruna Chawla, CEO at Salad.
VC: 💸 Planet A closes €160m for science-based climate investing - Berlin-based Planet A, co-founded by Lena Thiede, has closed its first fund at €160 million to back climate tech companies across Europe and Israel.
🚀 Making Health Humanity’s Greatest Investment - Loop Ventures, co-founded by Bérénice Magistretti, debuts to identify and support trailblazing founders who are developing the most disruptive and impactful technologies in health and bio.
💸 Speedinvest starts €3m fund of funds programme to back emerging managers - Partner Deepali Nangia will lead the programme. At least 50% of the capital will go to women and other diverse GPs
👩🏻💻 AI expert Fei-Fei Li joins Radical Ventures as partner - Fei-Fei Li, a veteran artificial intelligence expert, Stanford University professor, and co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute joined Canadian venture firm Radical Ventures as a partner.
“There’s no better time to do AI than today.” - Fei-Fei Li
Women’s Health: 🩸 Emm aims to upgrade periods with a smart menstrual cup - The reusable cup, masterminded by Emm’s CEO Jenny Button, inserts like a tampon and tracks biometrics like a wearable.
“It was during the first lockdown, and I was looking at the period product sector. I thought it was ridiculous that we were in 2020 and these products were still leaking, still so uncomfortable, and really unsustainable with a massive landfill problem globally. I thought people who menstruate are not going to be using these products in 20 years’ time.” - Jenny Button
🇪🇸 Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws - The Spanish parliament approved legislation expanding abortion (16- and 17-year-olds can now undergo an abortion without parental consent) and transgender rights for teenagers. Spain has also become the first country in Europe to entitle workers to paid menstrual leave. Equality Minister Irene Montero has been the driving force behind the two laws.
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
‘There is no standard’: investigation finds AI algorithms objectify women’s bodies - In a new investigation, journalists found that AI algorithms have a gender bias and may have been censoring and suppressing the reach of photos featuring women’s bodies, thus hurting female-led businesses that leverage social media. Medical pictures are also impacted.
VC diversity needs to change — and white men need to take responsibility - In Europe, 1% of VC money was raised by female-only VC fund teams last year, while 84% went to male-only teams. Furthermore, 91% of total VC assets are managed by men.
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Enjoy your Sunday!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth