Kasey Craven’s Post

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.

❔ 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

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

PitchBook has released its annual report All In: Female Founders in the US VC Ecosystem, presenting data on female founders and US VC investors. I thought it would be interesting to compare that market to what we are seeing in Europe (data also provided by Pitchbook). Female founders increased their share of US VC capital raised in 2023 to an all time high. US female founders and co-founders secured 27.8% of deal value last year. That figure drops to 22.8% if you exclude OpenAI’s $10.0 billion raise, but it still marks a record high. Sadly though, if you look at women only founder teams, those companies only received 2% of all US VC financing. In Europe, all women founder teams received 1.8% of VC financing last year. And founding teams that include a woman received 18.3% of VC finance (quite a way behind the US). When you look at where female founder teams get financed, then it’s almost (but not quite) a story of “London or bust”. Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and the other tech hubs are way behind London. This is particularly depressing when you consider just how hard it is for all female founder teams to raise in London. At the investor level, the share of female cheque writers at the largest US VC firms grew slightly to 17.4%. This is good and at least heading in the right direction. It’s also great to see, in both the US and Europe, the rise of female focused incubators, funds and initiatives to support female founders. More to follow on what we at the Diversity Committee of Boardwave are working on here. The only way is up!! Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is proud to partner with PitchBook, Deloitte, and Pivotal Ventures on the US report. Phill Robinson Kath Easthope Shruthi Chindalur Kate Pljaskovova Sarah Harmon Ursula Morgenstern Emma Cashmore Jane Elizabeth Reddin Katya Pogudina Lauren Apostolidis Nadine Torbey Cat McDonald

It's so important for female founders to understand how to raise money from Angels and VCs. That's why we’re thrilled to partner with Citrine Angels on an exciting event on May 22. At "Getting Venture Ready", you'll hear from an expert panel on how to take your business to the next level with venture capital. #ArlingtonVA #techecosystem #venturecapital https://lnkd.in/eT624qZu

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

According to a McKinsey study from 2022, Black and Latino founders received only 1 percent and 1.5 percent respectively of total US venture capital (VC) funding. Women-founded teams received 1.9 percent of VC funds, and only 0.1 percent of VC funds went to Black and Latino women founders. Join XRC Ventures, Black Women Talk Tech, and SHOPLINE on 10/17 during #LATechWeek for a special panel discussion on investing in underrepresented founders in the consumer space. RSVP: https://lu.ma/1d398toa #underrepresentedfounders #consumerbrands #venturecapital

This is how much money female founders aren't making, when our unicorns-in-waiting don't get funded (only 1.7% of all venture capital last year went to female founders). And this is how much money female founders who don't get funded to be able to scale unicorns, aren't able to recirculate in the funding ecosystem to in turn #FundFemaleFounders. Puck