Newton Venture Program

More than two-thirds of women in venture capital express concerns about returning to their investing roles after having children. They cite worries related to career progression and the overall experience of re-entering the workforce. Thanks to WVC:E for highlighting the "Untold Stories of Mothers in VC" in a report released today. See below on how to read the report. #womeninventure

Module 3 is upon us for Newton Fundamentals, and this week the NVP08 cohort will learn about two topics: market mapping and venture legals 🗺️ ©️ ✨Leading our first session is Ferdinando Sigona, partner at Phoenix Court. Ferdi joined in 2019 following his time at Entrepreneur First, supporting hundreds of founders in London and Berlin, to team up and start high-impact technology companies.  Ferdi is passionate about founders who are tackling this century’s biggest challenges, with investments in climate, healthcare and finance. He also co-leads the Launchpad Programme, a pre-seed initiative in partnership with Black Girl Fest, which helps support a new generation of black women founders. Taking NVP08 through venture legals are Taylor Wessing UK’s Deepti Patankar and Edward Chapman. ✨Deepti is senior associate and as an ex-founder, she specialises in advising investors, high-growth companies and their founders on funding rounds from seed stage to late stage and all the way to exits. Deepti also regularly acts on cross border M&A matters in the technology space. Her practice is focused on technology start-ups with particular emphasis on crypto, SaaS and women-led businesses. ✨Edward is a partner in the corporate team, advising clients on strategic buy and sell-side M&A transactions, joint ventures, and restructurings - particularly within the tech and life sciences sectors. Edward has extensive experience structuring, negotiating, and executing complex domestic and cross-border matters, regularly working across the UK, Europe and North America. He also advises on VC and growth equity financings, and has a particular interest in the fintech space. #NewtonFundamentalsProgram #NVP08 #VentureCapital #VC

We’re excited to be back at STATION F for WVC:E 🚀 It’s a packed agenda with four stages and a plethora of roundtables. Discussing everything that’s relevant in venture capital today, there’s also plenty of networking time for deal making and relationship building ✨ Join us in the Central Room at 11:20 where our MD, Eleanor Kaye, will be moderating a panel on how VCs can add value beyond the cheque. We’re ready for the day 🙌 Come say hello to the Newton team and Newton alums 👋

WVC:E has begun 🙌 We’re excited to be here and to be at the stunning Le Philanthro-Lab 🤩 The next two days are dedicated to exploring the key topics on the venture capital agenda. It’s also about holding a safe space for women in VC - who are woefully underrepresented in the ecosystem. Tomorrow our MD, Eleanor Kaye, will be moderating a panel on how VCs can add value beyond the check. Don’t miss it! We look forward to learning, unlearning, meeting new people and having some fun along the way ✨ We’re excited to have some of our Newton alums here too. Come and say hi! 👋 #WVCE2024

It's been a whirlwind of events lately, but it has been great connecting with inspiring founders and investors, alongside catching up with familiar faces! Some of the highlights have included - At Liverpool Slush'D listening to Piers Linney talk about his view of how AI is affecting the workplace and hearing Sir Robin Saxby (ex-CEO/Chair of Arm) giving a wonderful walkthrough of his life including successes, failures and lessons along the way. - Plenty of great Leeds Digital Festival events including Confessions of a Cyber Security Founder hosted by Addleshaw Goddard. Carly Gulliver chaired a great panel to talk through the genesis of zally® as well as touching on how the the Cyber Security market is evolving. - BREE Dragon’s Den Pitch Day Event – Sonya Bachra-Byrne MBA and the BREE team put on a great pitch day event supported by Bradford-Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem with this particular event aimed to empower university staff to pursue entrepreneurial ventures with backing and guidance. Great to on the panel with Thomas Kaye and Martin Allison for this event. Sifted Summit – Great to be at Sifted Summit which always includes excellent panel discussions providing great insights into the Venture Ecosystem. Was great to meet new contacts as well as giving me a chance to catch up with Eleanor Kaye and Newton Venture Program alumni! It's been an exciting few weeks indeed!

I haven’t been very active on LinkedIn for a while, but I feel it's time to change that. I want to start sharing my experience with the Newton Venture Program as a way of giving back to my network—especially after some friends and colleagues asked me about it. Recently, we had our first session called “Principles of Networking 101” with the brilliant Erica Young. To say the session was eye-opening would be an understatement! Erica is a networking scientist, and for the first time, I was introduced to the deeper, almost philosophical side of networking, along with its psychological and sociological aspects. In this session, we explored how who we know and who they know can shape our outcomes—whether in personal success, habits, or even the opportunities we come across. One standout concept was “The Adjacent Possible” (coined by Stuart Kauffman), which explains how our connections open doors to new possibilities we couldn’t even envision. We also debunked common networking myths. For example: • Networking isn’t just for extroverts. • Weak ties (those distant contacts we often overlook) can be more powerful than strong connections. • And my favourite, “Givers finish last” is a myth—givers succeed by creating ripple effects that enhance the success of those around them (Adam Grant’s Give and Take). The session also involved creating our own social map to understand the current shape of our networks and visualize how we can evolve them over time. This activity was incredibly insightful—it made me realize the unseen potential in the people I already know and how much more I can grow through those connections. One of the key takeaways for me came from the pre-read that Erica shared with us: The Self is Not Singular but a Fluid Network of Identities. This article challenges the idea of a fixed identity and instead suggests that we are a fluid network of identities shaped by our relationships, experiences, and environments. It resonated with me deeply because it aligned with the session’s core message: our networks are not just about who we know, but who they know, and how these connections ripple out to shape our identities and success. This experience has really inspired me to be more mindful of the connections I build and how they contribute to my growth. I’m excited to continue sharing more of what I’m learning through this journey. It’s been a powerful experience already, and I can’t wait to see where it leads! What’s your take on networking? Have you had any “aha” moments or lessons that changed the way you approach building connections? I’d love to hear your thoughts! #NewtonVentureProgram #VentureCapital #VC #Fellowship #StartupEcosystem #Innovation #CareerGrowth #Networking #NVPxLBS04

Sifted Summit 2024 means losing my voice, desperately needing sleep and craving chai. But above all it means feeling the most energised, inspired and grateful for the ecosystem I get to be a part of and the team I get to work with. This was year two of bringing Startup Life to..er..life! And this year, we had a bigger stage and an even better audience. I can’t believe how many of the panels were packed in that room. There are a lot of people to thank: everyone who joined us on stage, who came to listen in, who asked a question or gave me a hug/snacks! I’m sure I’ll share more panel highlights over the next few weeks! And then the team. - Fiona Elizabeth Craib and Hannah Bracey may not have been onstage but they make the magic happen ✨ - The sound guys — if you were on the SUL stage you would have met Pete, the absolute legend. - Steph Bailey who ran the stage like a pro. I don’t think I saw her sit down for two days (apart from when she was onstage!) - Then there’s the editorial team. Every incredible journalist spends hours to tell the right stories at Summit. It’s such a dream watching them moderate conversations, each one with their own individual flair. - Amy Lewin and John Thornhill — watching you continúes to motivate me to be better at this whole storytelling thing. - The wider Sifted team. Getting partners on board to make Summit happen, chatting away to attendees, keeping us all energised throughout, making sure things are seemless…I learn a lot from you guys. And finally, the Startup Life team. The dream team. I love my one day a week at Sifted and it’s because Tom Nugent, Miriam Partington and I love telling the stories of what it takes to build a company. And you should sign up to our newsletter lol. OK emosh post Summit post over and out 🧡

🫤 Are you still on the fence about doing Newton Foundations - our free course that demystifies venture capital? If you are, here's some thoughts from the 1800+ learners that have taken the course so far 👇

💸 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 💸 When I joined DN Capital beginning of this year, many of you asked me why Venture Capital as I have a diverse background in strategy consulting, late stage investing, CVC, C-level operator in a scale up and as an impact entrepreneur with 2hearts ❤️❤️ 👉🏽 For me the answer was and is clear: This is exactly why I joined Venture Capital. We need more (senior) investors who were in the “machine room” themselves, worked in a startup / scale up and / or build a company / community from scratch themselves. ❓What does this mean? Which value can VCs add beyond money? I will discuss this next week together with my amazing co-panelists Yvonne Bajela (Partner at LocalGlobe), Anna Ott (VP People at HV Capital) and Jen Hilibrand (Investor Greycroft) moderated by Eleanor Kaye (Executive Director Newton Venture Program)! 🙏🏽 Thank you Sophie Winwood for creating this amazing platform for female leaders in VC and investments with WVC:E. 🙌🏽 You can meet me and my amazing colleague Sarah Kreik in Paris next week - PM if you want to meet.