David B Horne’s Post

Dear Female Founders, Discover the latest insights from David B Horne who is an advocate for female entrepreneurs seeking funding. Check out his newest article to gain valuable support and champion your business journey!

❔ It started with a simple question. I’m ashamed to admit this, but at the time it was asked, not only did I not know the answer, I did not even know about the issue it raised. Five years ago, I was speaking at an event about small businesses raising money from venture capital firms. Venture capitalists are professional investors who buy shares in companies in return for cash so those companies can grow. After my talk, a woman came up and asked me: “Why does so little funding go to female founders?” “I have no idea,” I replied. “But I’ll find out.” What I found out was absolutely shocking, and in the five years since then, I have done everything I can to raise awareness about this issue, to support female founders and to challenge the venture capital industry. 👉 Read more about my journey and insights in the full article: https://shorturl.at/HD3db Thanks again to CEO Monthly for featuring me. #FundingFocus #CEOMonthly #DiversityInInvestment #FemaleFounders #TheFightForFairerFunding

According to PitchBook, female founders increased their share of US venture capital raised in 2023 to 27.8% of deals. While this is not a huge chunk of the pie, it's a great step! I'm connected with and have spoken with a lot of female founders who have incredible ideas, are some of the best leaders, and have a crazy amount of passion for their mission. #womenentrepreneurs #venturecapital #founders #nowyouknow https://lnkd.in/eB7wQi4b

Female-founded funds have exactly the same problem as female founders - LPs don't want to fund them either. LPs are making exactly the same mistake as VCs/investors generally - they're missing out on our multiple unicorns-in-waiting that just need access to capital to deliver massive returns, because they've decided they don't like free money. #FundFemaleFounders #FundFemaleFoundedFunds 'For women starting new businesses, early funding from venture capital firms led by other women is vital. But few are large enough to lead subsequent rounds of financing.' Gift link here: Nell Gallogly The New York Times https://lnkd.in/e_KE4EPv

Sign up to the ScaleUp Group webinar ✍ Join Maven Partner, Melanie Goward, and a panel of experts to explore 'How Female Founders attract investment and are rewriting the playbook for successful fundraising'. 🚀 Find out more and register below 👇 #femalefounder #entrepreneur #investment #webinar

💥This will be a great event showcasing the actual ‘how to’ and led by some of our female founders who have walked the talk. If you think you might want to know more about growth fundraising you can’t miss this. 👇 ScaleUp Group #femalefounders #venturecapital #growthcapital #scaleup #seriesA

Gender equality in venture capital isn't just a matter of fairness – it's a strategic move. Firms with more female investing partners see demonstrable increases in portfolio success, fund returns, and profitable exits. Investing in diversity drives prosperity for the entire industry. VC firms prioritizing gender equality reap tangible financial benefits.  Women-led VC firms - like Pocket Sun’s SoGal Ventures - invest ~2x more into female founded companies. They also tend to have 1.5% higher fund returns.  #womeninvest #investinwomen

I’m inspired by VC and entrepreneur groups like this. Spokes needs to be connected to networks like this so that we can grow and finance the long game of system change within an ecosystem of service providers import exporters and urban planners. Let’s have a conversation about how to bring women into, the urban development and transportation planning ecosystem in a way that creates companies, victim, thrive and showcase the brilliance of female entrepreneurs and company owners.

Attended the VentureCrush event by Lowenstein Sandler LLP in NYC yesterday. First off great event 👏 So now the key points for female founders: - Yes funding for female founders is < 2.5% now - Yes funding is tough for all founders currently, but even more so for early-stage female founders But…………….. - Be very diligent about the investor- founder match. Make sure the thesis aligns - Perfect your pitch. If you can’t explain to your grandma its too complicated - Lastly, get ready for rejection. But remember all it takes is one yes to get the round rolling #venturecapital #funding #founders

📣 Announcing our August in person office hour 📣 💰Calling all women and gender-diverse founders about to or having just started raising capital! ⏰ We are back in August running our in person office hour with Ananya Sinha from Artesian (Alternative Investments)’s Female Leaders Fund, Solai Valliappan from Scale Investors Pty Ltd and our own 🍇 Kirstin Hunter for those who are thinking about or about to embark on raising venture capital. ❓Who is this event for? A woman or gender-diverse founder looking to raise venture capital for the first time ❓What to expect from this event? The opportunity to ask questions (there are no bad ones!) in smaller, breakout groups on the following topics: Pitchdeck / storytelling, Metrics and traction, & Deal structuring and terms PLUS network with like-minded founders 🎫 Book your free ticket in the link! (in comments)