Mindshift Capital is a global, women-run venture firm investing in women-led companies that are self-described as solving big problems with sophisticated solutions. Mindshift Capital partners take an active, collaborative role in the growth of portfolio companies with a focus on successful exit pathways.

Mindshift Capital

Mindshift Capital invests in women-led early-stage tech companies in the Middle East and globally at the post-seed round. Through a global network, Mindshift identifies companies with scalable technology, exceptional leadership and high growth potential. We invest with a gender lens, ensuring diversity of thought while narrowing the funding gap for female-led ventures.

Founders, apply for funding here!  https://gust.com/organizations/mindshift-capital/funding_applications/responses/startups/new

MUNCH:ON

Things have been tough for many vc-backed consumer cos (B2C) in recent years.  

The pendulum does swing - hoping that means WE'RE DUE a crop of really exciting consumer tech innovators in the coming years, likely powered by/leveraging the inherent capabilities of AI.

That said, even the smartest product founders with lots of VC $ have found success in consumer to be elusive.

Inspired by the challenges and lessons learned - pulled together a compilation of insights and advice for consumer founders from many of the smartest in our business.  

Hope you'll check out this list - and send a note if there's an important topic or a piece to add.

h/t to the super smart authors referenced in this compilation, including Kirsten Green at Forerunner, Tina Sharkey, Jennifer Aaker, Sarah Tavel at Benchmark , Gina Bianchini CEO of Mighty Networks, Caryn Marooney at Coatue, Kent Bennett at Bessemer Venture Partners, Bill Aulet at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Lenny Rachitsky, Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital and more...  

https://lnkd.in/dE72NYvC

I looked at the data of the biggest startup exits (> $100 million) from the Middle East & North Africa to see what their founders went on to do after the sale. 

The sample size is very small right now, with only 18 such exits, including five IPOs. However, there are still some interesting insights here.

➝ Almost half of the founders are continuing to build the same business. This makes sense because, as I said, five of these are IPOs and some others are recent where founders are likely staying as part of their agreements with the acquirers.

➝ About one-fifth are investing in businesses, mainly in tech. Two through private firms and the other two through VC funds they founded; Talabat's Mohammed Jaffar who started Faith Capital, and Fawry's Mohamed Okasha who founded DisrupTech Ventures. 

➝ Another one-fifth are still building stuff. This includes the founders of Careem spinning off the super-app business, Hosam Arab building a fintech unicorn, Talabat's Abdulaziz Loughani building Floward, and Donna Benton building different things.

Most of those who continue to run the firms they started or are building new stuff without starting investment firms or VC funds are also investing regularly through angel cheques. 

But that is not their primary focus. 

The founders of Careem, for example, have invested in dozens of companies, across the region. 

These insights lead to another question. How many GPs in MENA have previously built a tech company (or product). 

I'll discuss this in another post in the next few days.

Following a slow start to the year, women-led VC funds have raised a total of $1.44 billion through the end of H1. This is a marked increase from the just over $700 million they had raised when I published my last update at the end of May, and shows that women-led venture firms are on track to reach the $3 billion mark they surpassed in 2023 and 2022, even amidst the fundraising slowdown across the venture industry.

Engine Ventures takes first place so far this year with its final close on $398 million for its third fund, above its $350 million target. Ulu Ventures raised $190 million for its fourth fund, Seven Seven Six 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ raised $187 million for its third fund towards its target of $520 million and Renegade Partners closed on $128 million for its second fund.

While the success of these four funds are representative of the progress made by women in the venture industry, the remaining $537 million was raised by 42 firms, with those funds generating a median of just $4.62 million in closed-on capital as of June 30.

Our list of women-led venture firms that have raised capital since the beginning of 2022 now contains information on over 200 individual firms, more than twice the number that I found when I first started this project around this time last year. We will be publishing the next update to our list within the next few weeks.

Read more on Venture Capital Journal.

#venturecapital #womeninVC #emergingmanagers

https://lnkd.in/eiNN4j3h

We are so excited to be part of the Making Space journey led by 🎸⭐️ Keely Cat-Wells!  So many great co-investors who we admire like Virginie Raphael FullCircle and Chris Maher Samaritan Partners .

We are new to the #disabilitytech sector but are learning by the day and so grateful for this opportunity. 🙏🏼

#dubai #femalefounders #genderlensinvesting Heather Henyon Marcia Dawood Barbara Baumgartner Rona Shedid Rebecca Hall

Slow Progress for Women in VC, but Hope for the Future

After writing a post about the precipitous drop in the share of VC going to founder teams with women on them. I wanted to provide some optimism for the future. Data from Deloitte's "VC Human Capital Survey" reveals a mixed picture for women in venture capital.

The good news:
*Women now make up 26% of investment professionals in VC firms, up from 15% in 2016.

*35% of junior-level investment positions are held by women, indicating a growing pipeline for future leadership.

*Nearly half of VC firms have formal diversity and inclusion strategies in place.

The not-so-good news:
*Only 19% of investment partners are women.

*Women are less likely to hold decision-making positions on boards or investment committees.

*Companies founded solely by women received only 2% of VC funding in 2023.

While progress is slow, the increasing number of women in VC roles and the growing commitment to DEI initiatives offer hope for a more inclusive and equitable future.

Source: US All In: Female Founders in the VC Ecosystem

Read the whole report, a link to it is in the comments. 

#VentureCapital #WomenInVC #DEI #FemaleFounders

VC Job Openings🪄

Open opportunities for those looking to break into VC.

Check out this week's openings (Jun 20 - 26)👇

Bessemer Venture Partners is hiring a Junior Associate.
Location: London
https://shorturl.at/LRRg8

Bessemer Venture Partners is hiring a Associate/Senior Associate.
Location: Tel Aviv
https://shorturl.at/4PsEC

Afore Capital is hiring an investor.
Location: San Francisco
https://lnkd.in/g2zsqhh5

First Round Capital is hiring a Chief of Staff.
Location: San Francisco, NYC, Philadelphia
https://lnkd.in/gUBGw-ZE

Susa Ventures is hiring Fellows.
Location: Remote
https://lnkd.in/ga3TS6jK

M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund is hiring an Associate.
Location: San Francisco
https://lnkd.in/gBze6UM7

Aligned Climate Capital is hiring an Operations Director and a Operations Assistant.
Location: NYC or LA
https://lnkd.in/gYugGQt5

Accion Venture Lab is hiring an Associate, Portfolio and Investments.
Location: Washington, D.C.
https://shorturl.at/4Nmpw

Delta Air Lines is hiring an Intern, Innovation Ventures and Technology (Fall 2024).
Location: Atlanta
https://rb.gy/vr5d26

Prudence is hiring an Associate.
Location: NYC
https://lnkd.in/gYstjx5D

Just land a VC interview? Congrats! 

Now, prep time. Here's an 8-step interview prep checklist I've aggregated

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝟖 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰👇
https://lnkd.in/gADFwD5w


#venturecapital #startup #founder #hiring

This week a really interesting report was published by European Women in VC and Founders Forum Group which gives a lot of great food for thought (it's based on European research however the trends are really worth reflecting on for other regions esp. #MENA and #Asia) - key findings:

* More VC money is going to positive impact-driven startups than ever before. AWESOME.
* Improving ESG performance is a top priority for the majority of VCs over the next 12 months. COMFORTING TO KNOW (BUT EXPECTED).
* Investors believe increased diversity in VC leads to better investment decisions and financial returns. YES COULD HAVE TOLD YOU THAT!
* Mixed teams and female-led VCs are particularly effective in driving impact and aligning with #SDGs. LOVE THIS AND WE NEED MORE OF IT.

Thought you might be interested Alexandra Tracy Peter Lazou Tony Á. Verb Heather Henyon Tanja Ferri Alishia Sullivan Mindshift Capital

🌟 List of Female VC Partners in the Middle East! 🌟

In the dynamic world of venture capital in the Middle East, these inspiring women are making waves and driving innovation. Here’s a list of some remarkable female VC partners you should know about:

- Adwa AlDakheel
- Amal Dokhan
- Ambar Amleh
- Amineh Dabbas
- Aya Zaghnin
- Basmah Alsinaidi
- Dima Shahin
- Elena Aster
- Eesha Khader
- Fida Taher
- Dr. Ghida Harfouche
- Heather Henyon
- Jenny Atout Ahlzén, CFA
- Jumana El Saadi
- Lana Ghanem
- Lindsay Miller
- Loulou Khazen Baz
- Luma Fawaz
- Mona Al-Mukhaizeem
- Noor Sweid
- Noora Hamid (Fahmawi)
- Nora M. Alsarhan
- Sacha Haider
- Sarah Abu Risheh
- Sarah AlSaleh
- Sarrah Al-Juaid
- Sonia Gokhale
- Sonia Weymuller
- Stephanie Nour Prince
- Tamara Abdel-Jaber

These women exemplify leadership and vision in the venture capital industry, paving the way for future generations of entrepreneurs. Let’s celebrate their achievements and continue to support diversity in the startup ecosystem!

📧 If you want to know more about each one, their backgrounds, experience, expertise, and contributions, check out our article in Startup Researcher - Middle East, and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

#WomenInVC #FemaleLeaders #DiversityInTech

If you’ve been tracking the percentage of venture funding that goes to all-female-founded teams as closely as we at Sifted have, you might be feeling a tad despondent.
 
It’s stagnated — at a measly 2%.
 
And that’s despite many initiatives launching in the past decades to change things. 
 
So, what next?
 
That was the topic of a roundtable I attended in London this week. In the room were VCs, LPs, angel investors, lawyers and a female founder or two. 
 
There was talk about getting more LPs to sign up for the Investing in Women Code (just two LPs — publicly-funded British Patient Capital and Big Society Capital — are signatories at the moment), about collecting data on VCs’ pipelines, and about calling out the signatories to the Code who had all-male investment committees (24%, in case you’re wondering). 
 
But then one brave soul asked: if we’ve had this code for five years, and we’ve been tracking data on the funding going to female founders for all that time and nothing has changed, don’t we need to try something different? 
 
I couldn’t agree more. Coaching, pitch sessions and workshops for female founders are all important — but plenty of women-led startups don’t need any mentoring, they just need the money. 
 
“Women are not the problem,” said one attendee. “The system is the problem.” 
 
It reminded me of a brilliant piece Olio founder and CEO Tessa Clarke wrote for Sifted a few years ago. She argued that most female founders don’t need ‘fixing’; they need funding — and suggested that rather than launch yet another mentoring scheme, VCs could instead focus on ensuring their investment committees were 50% female. 
 
Quotas aren’t for everyone — and I was told at the event that the current UK government is not a fan. 
 
But what about dedicating pools of funding to female founders, or female-led VCs? Germany’s state-backed LP KfW Capital has already done it, with a €200m fund to back VC firms from emerging managers with gender-diverse teams. Why doesn’t the British Business Bank do something similar? 
 
We need more women in decision-making roles at VCs to turn the tide. We need more women on startup boards and in startup C-suites. And, of course, we need bigger — and more — cheques for female founders. 
 
And then, like so many things in VC — FOMO will do the work. Once all of the above is in place — and the next Spotify is being built by a woman — we won’t need the stick. All anyone will see is the carrot.

Hephzi Pemberton Sophie Winwood Alexandra Daly Marla Shapiro 😃 David Fogel Janet Coyle CBE Phoebe Scriven Caroline English Francis Evans     #womenintech #femalefounders #startups

Full piece here: https://lnkd.in/e5BfHCKB

MIND

COM:MINDSHIFTCAPITAL

Mindshift Capital