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2018-02-14T16:20:00Z
In 2017, the presence of women in venture capital made feeble progress at the country's top firms.
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Union Square Ventures and First Round Capital were among two firms last year to take on their first female general partners.
And more and more women are founding female-led firms with an express interest in investing in female-founded startups, in order to break up tech's gender discrepancy.
We've rounded up a list of women across the US who are sourcing noteworthy deals, founding female-led firms, cultivating interest in female-founded startups, and making strides in venture capital.
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Before becoming a founding partner at Bloomberg Beta, Karin Klein oversaw new investments at Softbank.
Title:Partner, Bloomberg Beta
What she does: Klein has led deals for companies likeDatalogue, Donut, Flashpoint, goTenna, Massive, and Wonder. She also serves on the board of directors for Paramount Group, Harvey Mudd College and L'Oreal's Women in Digital.
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Angel investor Joanne Wilson has been a huge influence in New York city's tech scene.
Title:Angel Investor, Gotham Gal Ventures
What she does: Wilson worked in wholesale retail, media, and tech, before becoming an angel investor. Her current portfolio includes more than 90 companies including Food52, Sweeten, Vengo, Nestio, Shippabo, Flip, Clutter, and Union Station.
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Before founding her investment firm, Plum Alley, Deborah Jackson worked with Goldman Sachs and Shattuck Hammond Partners.
Title:Founder and CEO, Plum Alley
What she does: For more than 20 years, Deborah Jackson has raised capital for healthcare, medical, and consumer-tech companies, and she has also overseen one IPO.
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Laurel Touby is a former business journalist who now oversees pre-seed/early stage deals.
Title:Managing Partner, Supernode Ventures
What she does: Early in her career, Touby created the journalist-resource website mediabistro.com. She later founded micro-venture capitalist firm Supernode Ventures. Her angel portfolio includes companies like Braze, LaunchMetrics, PeerIQ, Credijusto, Click Therapeutics, and AlphaHQ.
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As a partner at Female Founders Fund, Sutian Dong leads early-stage investments in female-run internet and software startups.
Title:Partner, Female Founders Fund
What she does:Before joining Female Founders Fund, Dong invested in early-stage companies at FirstMark Capital.ELOQUII, Tala, Maven, Zola, Winky Lux, WayUp, and Thrive Global are just a few of the companies she's invested in over the course of her career.
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Alicia Syrett focuses on early-stage investments at her firm Pantegrion Capital.
Title:Founder & CEO, Pantegrion Capital
What she does: Among Syrett's investments are BeautyBooked, Cisse Trading Co., EnerKnol, Everwaters, and Nomad.
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MayaBaratzJordan is a longtime startup advisor who has worked with companies like Pilotworks, Purple, and MovieQu.
Title:Managing Director, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, powered by Techstars.
What she does: Baratz is an active investor in media and connectivity companies where she draws from her experience working with companies like the Wall Street Journal and Disney.
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Elizabeth Galbut is a a managing partner at the female-led millennial VC firm SoGal Ventures.
Title:Managing Partner, SoGal Ventures
What she does: As a partner at SoGal, Galbut invests in diverse founding teams across the US and Asia. She's made 50 investments to date, including Everlywell, Unbound, Proscia, eMocha, Hidrate, Insilico Medicine, and Glidian.
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Christina Bechhold Russ is a co-founder and managing director of the New York based angel group Empire Angels.
Title:Co-founder & Managing Director, Empire Angels
What she does: In addition to her work as a leading angel investor at Empire Angels, Bechold Russ is a principal at Samsung NEXT Venture, where she focuses on early-stage investments in software and services.
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Before becoming an early-stage investor, Nisa Amoils worked as a corporate attorney and an entrepreneur.
Title: Board Advisor, Scout Ventures
What she does:Amoils has been an angel investor since 2010 and focuses her portfolio investments on companies with female founders. At Scout, she invests in technology companies that focus on AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and drones.
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Before turning her eye to investment, Fran Hauser worked at several media companies including People, InStyle, and Moviefone.
Title: Angel Investor
What she does: Hauser has invested in 20 companies including HelloGiggles, Mogul, The Wing, and Gem&Bolt.Eighteen of the twenty companies in her portfolio are founded by women.
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Before her career in venture capital, Rebecca Kaden worked as journalist for The Economist.
Title: Partner, Union Square Ventures
What she does: In October, Rebecca Kaden became the first female partner for the influential New York firm Union Square Ventures. In the past, she's helped source deals for companies like Allbirds, Dia&Co, Periscope, and WayUp.
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In November, Hayley Barna joined First Round Capital as the firm's first female general partner.
Title: Partner, First Round Capital
What she does: Barna joined First Round as a venture partner after founding cosmetics retailer BirchBox in 2010.She also serves as board member to two early-stage companies, Madison Reed and RAB Lighting.
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Before joining Greycroft as a partner, Ellie Wheeler evaluated investment opportunities at Lowercase Capital.
Title: Partner, Greycroft
What she does:Wheeler started off her career in investing at Summit Partners. She's been involved in multiple acquisitions and investments, including PostPath, Jabber, Xobni, and Tandberg.
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Beth Ferreira worked in senior positions at several entrepreneurial companies including Fab.com and Etsy before she began a career in venture capital.
Title: Managing Director, FirstMark Capital
What she does:.Ferreira kicked off her investment career working with Fred Wilson at Flatiron Partners. Now, she oversees deals in next-generation commerce, consumer tech, and enterprise companies. Her portfolio of investments include startups like Glossier,Daily Harvest, Masterclass, Hooked, Hush, and Ollie.
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Before launching her firm, BBG Ventures, Susan Lyne headed up AOL's brand group as CEO.
Title:President & Managing Partner, BBG Ventures
What she does: At BBG, Lyne backs early stage startups with a particular focus on female entrepreneurship. Full Harvest, Winky Lux, Modsy, and Maverick are just a few of BBG's portfolio companies.
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Nisha Dua worked as a lawyer, a chief of staff for AOL, and a management consultant before co-founding BBG Ventures.
Title:General Partner & Co-founder, BBG Ventures
What she does: As a General Partner at BBG, Dua has invested in more than 50 startups includingThe Wing, Glamsquad, Modsy, Carbon38, GoTenna, Pymetrics, and Zola.
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A former Wall Street security analyst, Mary Meeker is considered a leading figure in venture capital.
Title: Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
What she does: Meeker is a longtime investor who has led enterprising deals in multiple sectors. Her sterling list of investments include Square, Spotify, Airbnb, Houzz, Twitter, Slack, and Instacart.
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Kirsten Green demonstrated her investment savvy early on with companies Jet.com and Dollar Shave Club, both of which are among the biggest e-commerce exits in recent years.
Title:Founding Partner, Forerunner Ventures
What she does: Along with her firm Forerunner Ventures, Green has made a point of investing in female-led companies like Birchbox and Glossier. She's also contributed funding to Bonobos, Retention Sciences, and Warby Parker.
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Prior to co-founding the firm Aspect Ventures, Theresia Gouw was a general partner at Accel for more than a decade.
Title:Founding Partner,Aspect Ventures
What she does: Gouw invested early on in Trulia, ForeScout, and The Muse. At Aspect, she focuses her investments on software and security-technology companies.
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Anu Duggal began her career as an entrepreneur by kicking off Indian's first wine bar, The Tasting Room, and co-founding e-commerce site Exclusively.In.
Title:Founding Partner,Female Founders Fund
What she does: Duggal founded Female Founders Fund in 2013 in order to cultivate VC interest in female entrepreneurship. Currently, the firm backs early-to-mid-stage companies like Winky Lux, Maven Clinic, Shine Text, Billie, and LandIt.
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Megan Quinn started off her career working in product management at Google.
Title:General Partner, Spark Capital
What she does: Quinn formerly led early-stage investment as a partner atKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She's overseen funding deals for Uber, Slack, Square, and InVision.
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Jess Lee held senior positions at both Google and Polyvore before she started working in venture capital.
Title:Partner, Sequoia Capital
What she does: Lee is the first female investing partner in the US at Sequoia Capital. Beforejoining Sequoia she was CEO and co-founder of Polyvore, which was acquired by Yahoo in 2015.
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Sarah Tavel's career in venture capital began at New York-based firm Bessemer. She became a partner at Greylock Ventures in 2015 before joining Benchmark.
Title:General Partner, Benchmark
What she does: Venture capital was a natural step for Tavel, who counts herself as one of the first 35 Pinterest employees. As a venture capitalist, she's invested in companies like Quidsi, Onestop Internet, Mindbody Software, and Cornerstone OnDemand.
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Before working in venture capital, Shauntel Poulson was a senior engineer at Procter and Gamble.
Title:General Partner,Reach Capital
What she does:Poulson co-founded $53 million education technology fund Reach Capital, which leads investing in early-stage technology startups in education. She's invested in more than 40 early-stage edtech companies including SchoolMint, Schoolzilla, and Newsela.
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Beth Seidenberg has incubated eight companies at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Title:General Partner,Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
What she does:Seidenberg is a key investor in the digital health and biotech sector. She joined Kleiner Perkins in 2005 and serves on the board of directors for several companies including3-V Biosciences, Armo Biosciences, Atara, and Auxogyn.
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Margit Wennmachers is among the leading venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.
Title:Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
What she does: Wennmachersco-founded one of the tech world's elite PR firms, The OutCast Agency, and has led early investments in companies likeAmazon, Autodesk, Facebook, Netflix, Salesforce.com, and Yahoo.
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Patricia Nakache's path to venture capital began as a reporter, when she interviewed firms about up-and-coming startups for Fortune.
Title: General Partner, Trinity Ventures
What she does: At Trinity Ventures,Nakache has invested in EAT Club, Kixeye, Mayvenn, Ruby Ribbon, PayScale, and Care.com.
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Ann Miura-Ko is the co-founder of venture capital firm, Floodgate, which focuses on Silicon Valley-based companies.
Title: Partner, Floodgate
What she does:Miura-Kofirst begin working in investment with Charles River Ventures. Shecounts Lyft, Ayasdil, TaskRabbit, and Refinery29 among her many investments.
Renata Quintini took an interest in investment in her career early on, sourcing deals for early stage companies at Felicis Ventures.
Title: Partner, Lux Capital
What she does:At Lux, Quintini is focused oncompanies that can build a better future. She was previously a partner at Felicis Ventures and an investment manager at Stanford University’s endowment. Her investments include Planet, Bonobos, Dollar Shave Club, Cruise Automation, and Swift Navigation.
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