It would take a long time to list all of the VC firms in Europe led exclusively by men. The list of VCs firms led exclusively by women is much shorter — but, over the past few years, has grown significantly longer.
Today, Sweden’s Course Corrected, a climate-focused VC with three female general partners, has announced the first close of its second fund at SEK720 (€63m). LPs include the European Investment Fund and Saminvest. It’s targeting a €100m final close.
And last week, the Netherland’s Borski Fund — which has two female founding partners, and invests in female-led startups or companies that make products and services for women — announced a final close of a €50m fund, five years after launch.
Borski Fund is not the only female-led fund to have been out fundraising for a long old time. “Like any startup, you think it will take you a couple of years to scale and it took us five years,” managing partner Simone Brummelhuis told Impact Investor. “Women-led VCs have a harder time raising funds but if you take the time and have the stamina, you will succeed. We hope to set an example to other female GPs and encourage them to do the same.”
There are, by Sifted’s count, just 20 VC firms HQd in Europe run solely by women — several of which are also nearing a final close.
We list them all below — and profile a handful. Have we missed anyone? Please get in touch.
The biggest: Revaia
Paris- and Berlin-based Revaia is a growth stage VC founded by Elina Berrebi and Alice Albizzati, two investors who’d first met working at French public investment bank Bpifrance. It closed its first fund in 2021 at €250m, and is currently raising its second, with €150m already closed. LPs include the EIF and Bpifrance. Its portfolio includes customer communications platform Aircall, employment site Welcome To The Jungle and SaaS unicorn Algolia.
The OG: Backing Minds
Sweden- and Denmark-based Backing Minds was the first female-led VC to close a fund in Europe back in 2016. The firm was set up by Sara Wimmercranz and Susanne Najafi, and counts the founders of Spotify, Skype, Atomico and Supercell, as well as the former CEO of H&M and investors from EQT, Kinnevik and Nordstjernan as LPs. It’s now raised two funds — the first, in 2016, and the second of €50m in 2021 — and tells Sifted it plans to raise a third. Backing Minds doesn’t require startups to have a female founder to invest — although 50% of its portfolio companies have founding teams with at least one woman and 30% are founded entirely by women; far higher than the average in VC.
The one with loads of female LPs: Auxxo
Auxxo was Germany’s first VC fund looking to solely back female-founded startups when it closed its $15m fund in 2021. Its founders are two well-known angel investors, Gesa Miczaika and Bettine Schmitz, and a whopping 60% of its LPs are also women. “It was important for us to attract many women as investors. Only once there are more female investors in the VC business will female founders also get enough capital,” Miczaika told Sifted when the fund closed. The pair now have 32 startups in their portfolio, all of which have a female founder.
The northernmost investor: Crowberry Capital
Iceland’s Crowberry Capital, which is led by three female general partners — Hekla Arnardottir, Helga Valfells and Jenny Ruth Hrafnsdottir — has closed two early-stage VC funds and backed 30 companies so far. Its second fund, of €90m, was Iceland’s biggest ever when it closed in 2022. Over half of its portfolio has a female founder, although it doesn’t apply any gender lens to its investments.
The biggest solo GP: Puzzle Ventures
Gloria Bäuerlein, a VC turned operator turned angel investor, raised Europe’s largest female-led solo GP fund of €21.5m in 2023. She’s focused on B2B startups, and told Sifted she likes founders who’ve “felt the pain of their customers” and move quickly. That’s also how Berlin-based Bäuerlein operates; often doing reference checks on founders before she meets them to enable her to move quickly if she likes what she’s pitched.
The one that’s not actually a VC: Sie Ventures
London-based Sie Ventures, run by founder and CEO Triin Linamagi, invests in female-founded pre-seed and seed stage startups on a deal-by-deal basis. It began deploying capital in 2022, and writes about 6-8 cheques per year, of £50k-£200k on average. There are now 18 companies in its portfolio, all of which have a female founder.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/europe-all-female-led-vc-firms/
