InvestHer Podcast

Welcome to the latest episode of the Invest Her Podcast!

Today, we're diving into the incredible journey of Allison Byers, Founder of Scroobious and a beacon of change and innovation in the funding ecosystem.

Allison Byers has earned the title of the Swiss Army Knife of funding and fundraising. From launching a company dedicated to making fundraising more accessible to underrepresented founders to advocating for legal changes in the United States funding landscape and stepping into the role of an angel investor, Allison's multifaceted career is nothing short of remarkable. Get the links to the resources mentioned in this episode and learn more in the Show Notes here; https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp44InvestinginChangeAllisonByersScroobious  

In this inspiring episode of the InvestHer Podcast, your host Anne Ravanona delves into the incredible journey of Sarah Dusek, co-founder of Under Canvas and Enygma Ventures. From experiencing a significant business failure to selling a business for $100 million and becoming a venture capitalist focused on empowering women entrepreneurs in Africa, Sarah's story is nothing short of remarkable. Join us as Sarah shares her insights on entrepreneurship, overcoming challenges, and the power of believing in your vision. Get the links to the resources mentioned in this episode and learn more in the Show Notes here; https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp43SarahDusekEnygmaVentures 

In today’s episode, we’re excited to delve into an inspiring conversation with Dora Palfi, the Co-Founder and CEO of Imagi. Dora shares her journey of creating a revolutionary approach to coding education, aimed at building a diverse and inclusive tech workforce for the future.

Imagi is not just a coding platform; it's a movement to redefine the way girls and boys engage with technology from an early age. Dora discusses how Imagi's unique solutions, such as the 'Imagi Charm' and their interactive app, are making waves in tech education by emphasizing creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity.

Join us as we explore Imagi’s mission, the challenges of diversifying technology, and the importance of early coding education. We'll also dive into Dora's funding journey, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs navigating the world of startup finance.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an investor, or simply passionate about education and technology, this episode is packed with inspiring stories and practical advice. Let's discover how Imagi is shaping the future of tech, one code at a time! Get the links to the resources mentioned in this episode and learn more in the Show Notes here; https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcast-Ep41-Dora-Palfi-Imagi 

Tune in to the Latest Episode of Invest Her Podcast: Trailblazing VC Funding in Singapore & Investing in Women Founders with Field Pickering, Managing Partner at Vulpes Ventures. Are you ready to dive into the dynamic world of venture capital and discover how gender diversity is reshaping investment strategies? Join us on the Invest Her Podcast for an inspiring and enlightening conversation with Field where he shares how Vulpes Ventures is breaking new ground by focusing on gender diversity in their investments, the role of networking and perseverance for women entrepreneurs seeking funding. Get the links to the resources mentioned in this episode and learn more in the Show Notes here: https://bit.ly/InvestHer-Podcast-Ep-42-Field-Pickering-Managing-Partner-Vulpes-Ventures 

Join us for an enlightening conversation with Gabriela Isas, founder and CEO of Good With, as she delves into the transformative world of financial education for young adults. In this episode, Gabriela unveils her unique journey to empower the 18-30 age bracket with innovative, AI-driven money management tools. Discover how Good With leverages behavioral science and technology to revolutionize financial literacy, and how Gabriela's passion is shaping a new era in fintech. Whether you're a young adult navigating your financial pathway or an enthusiast for cutting-edge financial solutions, this episode is packed with insights, inspiration, and practical advice. Learn about their funding journey so far and key resources they used that could be useful to you too. Tune in to explore how Good With is not just changing the game in financial education but also positively impacting lives. Don't miss this inspiring story of innovation and empowerment! Get the links to the resources mentioned in this episode and learn more in the Show Notes here.

🌿 Dive into the world of Cleantech with Mona Hornung, co-founder and CEO of Novo, in our latest episode of Invest Her Podcast. Mona shares her riveting journey from consulting to leading a groundbreaking Cleantech startup in Germany. Discover how Novo is revolutionizing building energy efficiency, the challenges and triumphs of her entrepreneurial path, and the insights from their successful funding journey. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about innovation, sustainability, and women's impactful role in tech. Tune in to hear Mona's invaluable advice for women founders embarking on their fundraising adventures. Join us for an inspiring conversation that delves into making a cleaner world, one building at a time.

Learn more about Mona and get valuable resources mentioned in the episode Show Notes here

This week, you'll learn meet Lara Solomon, Founder &CEO of Hoopsy, the sustainable pregnancy test making waves. Lara is a serial entrepreneur who decided to create a medical device company to help millions of women, building on her own personal fertility journey, where she wondered where were the sustainable pregnancy tests that didn't add more plastic waste to the planet. She didn't find them, so she created her own! Join us as you learn from her experience building her product and raising money on the way.

Learn more about Lara and access the valuable resources shared in this episode on our Show Notes here.

This week, we have the pleasure of welcoming Gustavo Stecher, our long-time partner and the founder and CEO of Membranding. Gustavo is an extraordinary professional with extensive experience in global branding identity, particularly in startup branding, social branding and city branding. Join us as you learn how startups and emerging funds can use branding identity to get funded faster.

Learn more about Gustavo and access the valuable resources shared in this episode on our Show Notes here.

Great VCs and fund managers can come from anyway and Jenna Bryant, a true force of nature is living proof of that. Together with her co-founder Jordan Noone, both from non-traditional backgrounds, they created Embedded Ventures as a next generation VC firm investing in early -stage startups in deeptech and space, that can serve the U.S. Department of Defense. With a degree in fashion design and a passion for dance, she started her career as a tech recruiter, blazing a trail in emerging tech startups, before becoming a venture capitalist and in turn co-founding Embedded Ventures. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a truly wild ride into deeptech and space tech investing, learn more about Embedded Ventures and who they invest in and get key insights into space tech funding as well as practical key tips for women founders and those who want to get into VC. Ready for Lift Off? You're in the right place!  Have a listen and get all the resources in the show notes here: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcast-Ep36-JennaBryant

Did you know that today, only 1% of global corporate procurement goes to women-owned businesses? In 2023? Why is it that so few big corporates buy from women-owned businesses and what can women entrepreneurs do to win key contracts with them? Supply chain diversity is not only a buzzword, it's an imperative, if we are to unlock more global growth and close the global pay and customer gap for women founders. That's where WEConnect International comes in. They are on a mission to drive more money into the hands of women and help them better compete in the global marketplace. In this episode, you'll learn from Paulina Dri-Rabell, Market Lead for France, about how WEConnect helps women-owned businesses get certified and enter the corporate supply chain successfully, all over the world.  Learn why this can help more women owned businesses get luctrative corporate contracts, all about the certification process and how access to markets is a key funding and growth strategy for women founders. Paulina also shares her key tips to women founders on how build great relationships with corporates and much more! Get more information about WEConnect and the certification process in the show notes here:

How do you raise money for a hardware, femtech, medical device that is highly innovative and not yet on the market? How do you get partners like the World Health Organisation to support your work? In this episode, you'll hear from Rosanne Longmore, CEO of Coroflo, a company which has developed and patented the world’s first accurate breastfeeding monitor, Coro. Coroflo have raised €4m investment and have won numerous innovation and technology awards. Coroflo are raising their Series A to launch Coro to the market in 2024.

Learn the behind the scenes story about how Coroflo started, how they pivoted, their funding journey, how to manage prodcut development, research, patenting, funding all in parallel to build a world-class medical device/femtech company. I believe they will become an Irish woman co-founded unicorn so stay tuned!

If you are a founder, get lots of great tips on how to raise serious non-dilutive capital. If you are an investor looking for a great opportunity, you should definitely listen to this episode! 
Access the resources shared in this episode in the show notes here.

How we tell stories matters. It's the way we all communicate things that really matter, and how you tell your story as a funder (investor) or founder can really change outcomes. In this episode, you'll learn from Tara Todras-Whitehill, an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared on more than 20 front pages of The New York Times. She founded the TW Visual Storytelling Agency and has a clientele of some of the world’s leading social impact and news organizations. 

If you are a funder (investor) you'll love this episode, as you'll learn how to better tell your stories about how you invest in women and diverse founders, to help you attract more diverse dealflow. Tara will walk through 4 examples of venture capital funds websites, share what they are doing well and how they can elevate their storytelling to connect even better with diverse founders. And if  you are founder, you'll learn how to tell your founder and company story authentically and ethically when you fundraise and to attract clients and team members.

Tara shares so many valuable practical takeaways so make sure you take notes and share this episode with other funders and founders who need to hear this too! See the websites she mentions and other resources in the show notes here: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcast-Ep33TaraTodras-Whitehill

What if you could invest in the change you want to see, by investing in public stocks of companies with women ceos? By investing in what you want to see in the world, breaking barriers and moving the needle forward? Now you can, if you are based in the United States, thanks to Patricia Lizarraga, Managing Partner at Hypatia Capital, who has created the world's first ETF (exchange traded fund) called WCEO. In this episode, you'll learn what's an ETF, how you can use them to diversify your investment portfolio, why they created this ground-breaking solution, and why investing in women leaders, yields higher performance and therefore more money in the bank for you!

Don't worry, you don't have to be a finacial wizard to listen to this episode. Patricia does a great job in explaining why it's important to walk the walk not just talk the talk when it comes to investing to make higher returns and in accordance with your values. I think this WCEO ETF is going to be a game changer for all of us in the future and really hope other countries take example from Patricia and Hypatia Capital. We love people who break the mold. Enjoy this episode and go the shownotes for links to learn more. https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcast-Ep32-PatriciaLizarraga

Roni Eiger is a successful angel investor and technology scout, living in Israel and working extensively connecting Israeli startups with Spain, particularly in the Agrifood/Agtech sector. Learn why she became an angel investor, key insights into Israeli culture and the Startup Nation, and about all the key sources of funding in Israel. You'll also learn about a key women's angel network there, as well as her tips on why more women should become angel investors. If you are a woman founder,  listen out for her key tips when looking for funding in Israel. Get ready for a really interesting episode and enjoy reading the show notes for more information on Roni here.

Mope is Founder and General Partner of Knight Ventures, the Pan Africa Digital Accelerator providing a platform to connect startups, mentors and Investors. Their mission is to develop 100 high-growth tech enabled startups to scale and success and also have a venture fund  (AfriGlocal) to financially back those startups. They primarily invest in west Africa, and are key players in the Africa Rising movement, where local Africans take active part in investing in and developing African businesses. She is also founding a $10M venture fund to invest in the pre-seed portfolio companies coming out of her Accelerator. In this episode you'll learn all about her accelerator and new fund, as well as very interesting insights into the current state of funding in Africa. Find full shownotes with key links here: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp30MopeAbudu  - Enjoy!

Welcome to this latest episode, where you'll hear from  Kanwal Bhatia, Founder & CEO of AI startup Metalynx, about how she raised $800K in pre-seed funding. She shares her challenges along the way, how she kept going, what she learned to help her in her future funding rounds and much more! This episode is in partnership with DWEN (Dell Women Entrepreneurs Network) from Dell Technologies. Full show notes with links to the resources mentioned in this episode here:

We agree with Kanwal when she says:

"Enjoy the process, learn from it and faith in yourself that you can do it" 

Learn more about her and the resources she shares during this episode in the show notes here.

What better to kick off Season 3 of our podcast than by listening to the inspiring story from French serial entrepreneur, Valérie Hoffenberg, about how she raised $1M in seed funding for She Travel Club, the new travel tech startup about to take the women travel market by storm. A former diplomat and advisor to a previous President of France, Valérie has built her incredible diverse network over her career. In this episode she also shares tips for female founders on how to leverage your network during your fundraise. Enjoy! Full show notes here: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcast-Ep28-ValérieHoffenberg

When you listen to Olga Duka, Managing Partner from Improve Ventures, you cannot help but hear her passion for all things funding great founders in emerging markets, and supporting emerging Fund Managers to help diversify the startup funding landscape.  This episode will appeal to both investors and founders alike, as Olga explains and explores the challenges and opportunities for both 'emerging' sides of the funding table. Once thing's for sure, you'll walk away full of a new found understanding of both topics and assured she's going to leave a mark on this industry. Enjoy! Full shownotes here: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp27-OlgaDuka

Ready to take a trip to funding universe in Mexico and Latam for women entrepreneurs? Meet Anna Raptis, the Australian who decided to create a fund to invest in women and diverse founders in Latin America, because nobody else was doing it and it's the right thing to do. In this dynamic and candid episode, Anna shares some great insights into the world of funding in latin america, key biases that still exist and why she created Amplifica Capital to help solve access to funding for women and diverse founders. Show notes: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp26-AnnaRaptis

Are you ready to hang onto your seats? This is a super fast-paced episode, where Susan HayesCulleton, Founder of Active Peers AI explains how she set up her company and used innovation partnerships (research partnerships) as a source of funding, to bring her great idea to life. But it wasn't all plain sailing as she soon discovered. From having to re-think her business model, to learning how to manage complex stakeholders in her innovation partnership, Susan explains the ins and outs of this particular type of funding in detail and all she learned, so you if you plan on using this type of funding, you'll be ready. Full shownotes: https://bit.ly/InvestHerPodcastEp25-SusanHayesC