The Cheque Writers: Funding Women-Led Businesses [European Edition]
FemWealth Issue #24
Dear FemWealth Friends!
My thoughts are with the women of Afghanistan and the vulnerable people whose lives are endangered by the power overtake in their country. It’s heartbreaking to see so many people fearing for their and their families’ lives.
If you would like to support human’s rights organizations in Afghanistan, you can find a selection here:
Women for Afghan Women [largest women’s organization in Afghanistan]
How you can help Afghanistan [via Quartz]
This and next week's editions of FemWealth focus on the leading venture capital investors who champion female entrepreneurship and technology products that cater to women's underserved needs in sectors such as healthcare and personal finances.
Worldwide, all-female-founded businesses receive less than 3% of the total VC investments. And that despite women-founded companies outperforming all-male startups.
In Europe, the numbers don't look any better, unfortunately. According to PitchBook, despite a record amount of capital invested this year in Europe, female founders have received only 0.7% of the total funding, or €400 million (about $473 million).
Female investors across Europe are leading the way in funding female founders, proving that investments in women-founded and -led companies make business sense. They are also changing the VC industry.
Get to know them:
Sofia Bendz, Angel Investor & Partner at Cherry Ventures
It’s such a massive business opportunity that is completely untapped. We’ve seen it many times when you have a female investment partner [that] the pipeline opens up and you get more deal flow from female founders…. So I think we have a lot of work to do. I think it’s definitely improved a lot in the last couple of years but not enough… That is one of the drivers for why I put my money where my mouth is and invest in lifting the founders, but also because there are incredibly interesting business opportunities… There are so many opportunities and products or services that we will see being developed. When we have a more equal society, and more women, both building their own companies, coding and also investing… I can’t wait to see what that world will look like.”
(C) Sophia Bendz
One of the leading champions of female entrepreneurship, Sophia Bendz, started her tech career as an early employee of Spotify, serving as Global Director of Marketing.
She started angel investing in 2012 and launched Atomico's Angel Programme in 2018, while she was a Partner at the London-based firm.
Currently, she is a partner at Cherry Ventures, investing in early-stage companies. Bendz's notable investments include Carbo Culture, co-founded by Henrietta Moon, Clue, co-founded by Ida Tin, and Vira Health, founded by Andrea Berchowitz and Rebecca Love.
Deepali Nangia, Venture Partner at Speedinvest and Co-founder of Alma Angels
(C) Deepali Nangia via The Refinery
One of the UK’s most prolific angel investors, Deepali Nangia, is currently a venture partner at early-stage VC Speedinvest where she focuses exclusively on female founders.
She is also co-founder of Alma Angels, an angel community supporting female founders that aims to encourage and educate more women to angel invest in women-owned businesses.
Some of Nangia’s most notable investments include Kama, founded by Chloe Macintosh, PensionBee founded by Romina Savova, and Juno Bio, co-founded by Hana Janebdar.
Kinga Stanisławska, General Partner and Founder of Experior Venture Fund
(C) Kinga Stanisławska
A veteran in the banking and investment industries, Kinga Stanisławska is one of the most prominent VC investors in the CEE region, Vice President of the Polish PE/VC Funds Association (PSIK), and an independent board member of several publicly listed companies. She supports women-led companies and has established the European Women in VC platform intending to increase the number of female partners at venture funds across Europe.
She is also a member of the European Innovation Council and an advisor on innovation to the EU Commissioner Maria Gabriel.
Notable investment: DrOmnibus co-founded by Bogumiła Matuszewska.
Get to know more VC investors in Europe:
Browse Sifted’ 200+ female VC partners in Europe: the complete list
Browse Sifted’s list 100+ active female angel investors in Europe
Subscribe to Femstreet & Heroa.
Next week’s edition will cover the US VC landscape, specifically focused on female-founded startups.
Thank you for reading FemWealth. Wish you a safe and excellent week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer @FemWealth
P.S. I’m currently traveling and that’s the reason why this email arrived a bit later today.