The Allyship

Did you know that:

• Women make up only ~11% of investing partners at US VC firms.

• Women founders have received just 2.4% of VC dollars.

Venture Capital is a major funder of internet companies and projects — if we change the make-up of this important industry, will we see a difference in the amount of funding that women-led projects receive?

We know that companies with a female founder perform 63% better on average than all-male founding teams. Despite a greater potential to produce higher returns, women are historically underfunded, particularly women of colour.

— Women in VC Report, 2021

The issue is clear.

The percentage of women in venture capital firms is still vastly underrepresented.

1. The lack of women entering the field of venture capital is due to systemic barriers.

2. There is still a lack of momentum needed to shift these existing barriers for women to enter the venture capital world.

We aim to accelerate the current pace of social change and increase the number of women in Venture Capital to at least 30%.

Diversity isn't just the right thing to do — it's good for business.

There are significant opportunities to cultivate and promote the untapped potential for women.

Historically, the VC industry has consistently invested in founders, teams, and products that look like them. With that, huge market opportunities are left on the table, with millions of people who would be willing to spend money on the things they need remain largely overlooked and undiscovered. More diverse and more women-led funds mean that the likelihood of products and services targeting underserved markets receiving funding increases.

Our Approach

Research

We have researched the North American venture capital industries and identified the barriers and opportunities to increasing the number of women in VC.

Read the report →

Allies

We have compiled a committee of powerful women and advocates in the VC space to guide the project and educate the industry.

Speaking

We know that education is key to changing mindsets in the industry. Our committee members are available to share their experiences at conferences, workshops, and university classrooms.

The Allyship Committee

We are allies for women in venture capital.

Neal Dempsey

Neal Dempsey is the Managing General Partner of Bay Partners, one of the longest-running venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. Forbes has named Neal as one of the top 100 venture capitalists in the world. As a seasoned venture capitalist, Neal sees the value of diversity and the untapped potential for investing in women. He is dedicated to advocating, investing, and reinvigorating a new space for women in the investment community by utilizing his resources to connect luminaries and women in the industry.

Katrina German

Katrina is one of Canada's leading women entrepreneurs in technology and communications. Katrina received the prestigious International Women in Tech award, and she has dedicated her career to creating a more equitable space for women in technology. Katrina is passionate about bridging the gender gap in the investment community and is the guiding force behind this project.

Viveka Rydell-Anderson

Viveka Rydell-Anderson is an experienced healthcare innovator, executive, lawyer, and change leader. Her experience includes start-ups, getting projects unstuck, operationalizing and scaling innovative ideas, hiring talent, funding, and business strategy. With purpose, she brings ideas to fruition, builds partnerships and teams, and attracts investors.

Viveka is the CEO of Pacific Vision Foundation in San Francisco, Advisor to DAYA Venture Studios, a Swedish FemTech incubator, and President of the HIMSS Northern California chapter. She is also the founder of two health startups, Mamsen Health and ImageChain.AI. Viveka holds an MS from Stanford Medical School in Clinical Informatics Management, a JD from UC Berkeley School of Law, and a BA from UCLA.

Michelle McBane

Michelle is passionate about working with technology entrepreneurs applying disruptive technologies to solve problems in enterprise, health, and consumer markets. She has many years of combined operational and venture capital experience, including 16 years of VC investing in early- and later-stage ICT and health companies.

Michelle co-founded StandUp Ventures in 2017 and leads investments in early-stage health and technology companies. She sits on the boards of Sampler, tealbook, ODAIA, StoryTap, Emovi, MiMS, and Acerta, and is an investor in Figure1, Maple, Rank, and Rubikloud. Michelle holds an MBA from McMaster University and a BASc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.

Delilah Panio

Delilah Panio is Vice President of U.S. Capital Formation for Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), based in Southern California. She advises U.S. companies on the opportunity to list and raise capital on Canada's premier equity markets.

Previously, Delilah spent 10 years at TSX and TSXV in business development and strategy. She is the founder of Fortuna Funding, which provides guidance on accessing aligned capital for female founders, and Executive Director and Co-Founder of We Are Enough, a non-profit that educates women on why and how to invest in women-owned businesses. Delilah holds an MBA in Enterprise Development and a BA in English.

Joanne Fedeyko

Joanne Fedeyko is the Founder & CEO of Connection Silicon Valley, which helps accelerate Canadian startups from seed to scale, and Founder of the Canadian Women's Network. She is Co-Founder and General Partner of Women's Equity Lab Silicon Valley, an angel investment fund with the mission to increase the number of female investors in early-stage startups. Joanne hails from Alberta and has lived in Silicon Valley since 1999.

Roxanne Leduc

Roxanne is the founder of Cap Inclusive, which supports funds and ecosystem partners in their DEI transformation. She launched Cap Inclusive after working for 10 years in innovation and publishing with HEC Montreal the first Canadian study around ways to close the gender gap in VC. She previously served as Director of Operations at Panache Ventures, leading their DEI and operations strategy and helping raise a $100M fund. Roxanne also sits on the Board of Canadian Women in VC and on the DEI task force of Startup Montreal.