Female Invest

Funding discrimination is a democratic problem. Last night, we talked about it on national TV 👇 It's easy to think that funding discrimination only impacts women or people of color. It doesn't, and here's why: Founders often build companies to solve problems they've personally experienced. When women and people of color don't get funded, the problems faced by these groups don't get solved. This is evident in every industry from healthcare to education and beyond. Funding discrimination also prevents women and people of color from equally participating in the innovation of products/services that affect everyone. From the racist and sexist bias in AI to the development of everyday products within beauty, healthcare, transportation and beyond. Again, this is very well proven by research. Therefore, we should all care about the fact that female founders receive less than 2% of funding while Black founders receive less than 0,5% of funding (men and women combined!). It's not good enough - and the solution is not that hard. Right now, ~90% VC Partners are (mainly white) men. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: 50% of the population is not qualified to make decisions about 100% of the population. Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg l Emma Due Bitz l Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen

Did you know that Camilla was 9 months pregnant when we closed our Series A? Or that this is our second Founder baby? 👇 👇 Why are we sharing this? To change the narrative. It's no secret that female founders face unique barriers and bias, especially when fundraising. Having fundraised twice with a pregnant founder, it's terrifying to say the least. The hardest part wasn't starting a family. It was navigating the prejudice and expectations from the world around us. Expectations shape reality. If society expects female founders to fail when starting a family, VC's won't invest, employees won't apply for jobs and women will refrain from even trying. By sharing our journey, we hope to inspire change. Encouraging VC's to bet on women and encouraging more women to combine the dreams of motherhood and startup life. It's not easy and it does take a village. We've been lucky to find extraordinary investors who believe in us, romantic partners who support our dreams and a dedicated team who wants to change the world with us. We all play a role in changing the narrative. Let's do this! 🔥

BIG NEWS: we just closed $11,2m in Series A… and we broke 4 world records in the process! 🔥 👇 This fundraise marks a major milestone for our company and community, accelerating our mission of closing the financial gender gap. We’ve come a long way since launching the first version of our educational platform (and bootstrapping to the first 10 employees!) Since our first fundraise in late 2020, we’ve 12x’ed the business and grown to 73,000+ paying members across 123 countries. It’s hard to grasp that an idea we got as broke students has grown to become a global movement. This round was led by Educapital and Rubio Impact Ventures with most existing investors joining. We couldn’t be happier. As a small part of the round, we also allowed our members to get real ownership through crowdfunding. They’ve asked for years, and it only felt right for a community-driven business to be (partly) community-owned too. It went wild. We raised $1m in 4 minutes, breaking 4 world records (and the crowdfunding platform 😅 ) in the process. If this doesn’t convince the nay-sayers that women are indeed a powerful target group, we don’t know what will. Sadly, this fundraise is an outlier. Because today, women face unique, discriminatory barriers and raise just 2% of capital. We hope this fundraise is part of a bigger change, smashing stereotypes of what an investable founder looks like. Finally, we haven’t done this alone. We thank our amazing community, team and investors for being on this journey with us - we can’t wait to smash more glass ceilings with you. 🚀 Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg l Emma Due Bitz l Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen Read about the fundraise in Business Insider https://lnkd.in/dwkekmCD

3 years ago, we were told that women don't read finance books... Today, The Evening Standard listed 'Girls Just Wanna Have Funds' as one of the best investing books🔥 👇 This is exciting, because 'Girls Just Wanna Have Funds' is much more than a book. It's a feminist manifesto, challenging the status quo. We published the book 1,5 years ago, and we've smashed records ever since. From hitting the Sunday Times betseller list to topping Amazon lists across categories in- and outside the UK. Thank you for helping us push the message - and get more money in the hands of women 🚀 https://lnkd.in/d-smjRNQ Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen l Emma Due Bitz l Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg

In January, 47.000 women signed up for our webinar with Deborah Meaden. On Monday, we're doing it again and 30.000+ women already signed up 🔥 We started Female Invest to democratize access to financial education, and we're so excited to see it happen. We've previously had an amazing webinar with Sara Davies MBE too. We're very grateful for two of the most influential women in this space to support our mission. The best way to learn, is to learn from the best. We can't wait for Monday! Sign up: https://lnkd.in/dMXGS9xX

Last night, our community showed up big time💛 Hosting in-person events is always a humbling experience. But it’s so worth it. Feeling the support and dedication from our community means everything to us. No one can change the world alone. But together, there’s no limits to what we can achieve. A special thanks to our amazing speakers: Marcia Pregal a Female Invest member studying to become a Financial Planner Leah Chowdhry the first British Asian woman to swim the English Channel - and an entrepreneurial power house. Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen l Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg l Emma Due Bitz

Dear London Stock Exchange, This hourglass is a gift for you. It has travelled around London, serving as a reminder that time is ticking on financial gender equality. Because at the current rate of progress, it will take 169 years to close the financial gender gap. We believe that getting more women to enter financial markets is a key part of the solution to this problem. We hope it can find a permanent home in your offices, the very heart of the investing world. Together, let's fight for financial equality. Kind regards, Female Invest

Last night, 200+ women joined us for an event on 'changing the world with money' 🌎 💰 It was an incredible night with empowering speeches from Mariam Jimoh, Varaidzo Tendai Moyo and Georgia Elliott-Smith. There's nothing better than meeting our community in-person and hearing the stories of how lives have been changed. The event sold out in hours, so to keep up with demand we've released another exciting event on May 28th in London. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dTzmc6VJ

It will take 169 years to close the financial gender gap. We can't accept that.💡 Yesterday, we placed a giant hourglass in the heart of London, visualizing how time is ticking⏳ Today, we invited our community to sign it. Old, young, men and women came to support. Those who couldn't join in person texted us their name, so we could sign for them. Hundreds of messages - we did our best to sign as many as possible. Financial empowerment is not a phase or a trend. It's a movement. And we're never going back.🔥

⏳ We've taken the streets of London!⏳ Why? Because it will take 169 years to close the financial gender gap - and we don't want to wait that long! To visualize how time is ticking, we've placed a giant hourglass in the heart of London, where time is money. We want change. Now. We're really proud of this campaign and the overwhelming feedback we've already received. When it comes to financial equality, every second counts. Read more about the campaign in City AM: https://lnkd.in/dnHWBHn5