✨ Gender balanced news! March edition – VC fundraising

This month, female-led VC firms across Europe and the US are doubling down on early-stage innovation. Here’s what caught our eye:

🚀 Co-led by Joanne Chen, Foundation Capital (US) raises a $600M fund to back fintech, enterprise, and crypto startups at the early stage.

🏀 Co-founded and led by Kara Nortman, Monarch Collective (US) expands its focus on women’s sports with an upsized $250M fund.

💼 Co-led by Sarah Hodges, Pillar VC (Boston, US) announces a $175M fund to back deep tech and biotech startups shaping the future of the Boston ecosystem.

🌍 Co-led by Ekaterina Almasque, OpenOcean (Pan-European) reaches a €100M first close for its fourth fund, targeting a final close of €130M to support data-driven software across Europe.

🇮🇹 Led by Diyala D'Aveni, Vento (Italy & global) closes a €75M fund to back Italian founders wherever they are in the world — from Turin to San Francisco.

💡 Co-led by Mary Grove, Bread and Butter Ventures (Minnesota, US) closes $40M Fund IV to support Seed-stage startups in food tech, digital health, and SaaS across North America.

📊 Founded and led by Rupa Ganatra Popat, Arāya Ventures (UK) nears a £20M first fund to invest in B2B SaaS and consumer startups across healthtech, fintech, and the future of work.

🌱 Founded by Leslie Feinzaig, Graham & Walker (Seattle, US) is raising a $15M second fund to back early-stage startups and underrepresented founders.

At SISTAFUND, we love seeing bold capital moves from women building the next generation of VC — across sectors, borders, and communities.

Let’s keep the momentum going! 👏

#GenderBalancedNews #WomenInVC #VentureCapital #EarlyStageInvesting

🇺🇸 Female Invest is launching in the U.S. – and just made headlines in Forbes!

When we backed Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg, and Emma Due Bitz, we believed in their mission to close the financial gender gap by equipping women with the knowledge to take control of their financial futures.

Since then, they’ve:

🔹 Educated 500,000+ women
🔹 Built a global community in 125 countries
🔹 Raised $23M
🔹 Published a bestselling book

And now: they’re entering their next chapter with a full-scale U.S. launch.
Why does this matter? Because financial literacy is financial freedom. And with only 33% of women seeing themselves as investors, the work Female Invest is doing is more vital than ever.

Nearly 150,000 women signed up for their first U.S. webinar. The momentum is real—and the mission is only getting started.

At SISTAFUND, we are proud to support Female Invest and this exceptional team as they scale their impact across the Atlantic.

Full Forbes article in comments ⬇️

#FemaleInvest #FinancialFreedom #WomenInFinance #SistaFund #ImpactInvesting #FinancialLiteracy #GenderEquality #PortfolioSpotlight

🌍 What if we built an "MIT of Impact" in Europe?

The book Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology traces the rise of a unique entrepreneurial ecosystem—rooted in experimentation, a diversity of approaches, and a deliberate lack of centralization.

One passage captures this philosophy perfectly:

“MIT has developed and continues to evolve an entrepreneurial ecosystem. It starts with our founding motto: Mens et Manus—mind and hand. It is about solving problems and making a difference. There is no master plan to this entrepreneurial ecosystem; it evolves from perceived need.”
— Joe Hadzima (MIT, 1973)

At SISTAFUND, we believe Europe needs a model that is both structured and organic to foster a generation of committed, ambitious entrepreneurs building sustainable solutions.

🔭 Our ambition: to build a transnational ecosystem at the intersection of research, technology, impact, and capital.

🎯 That means:

-Cohorts of impact-driven women founders, selected and supported across Europe;

-Mobilizing public and private investors to fund underrepresented trajectories;

-Creating bridges between founders, funds, institutions, and corporates to spark lasting synergies.

💡 MIT’s key insight? It’s not structure, but the links between people that create the true strength of an ecosystem.

At SISTAFUND, we’re building those links—every day.

🚀 Backing Underdog's €7M Series A to make refurbished appliances the new standard!

We're excited to invest again in Underdog, alongside fellow historical investor daphni, as they scale their impact and take their industrial model to the next level. This €7M Series A round, led by BNP Paribas Impact and Serena, marks a major step in their mission to transform the way we consume home appliances.

✨ Why we're doubling down on Underdog:

1️⃣ A market with huge potential – with 10 million appliances discarded annually in France and less than 3% refurbished, Underdog is addressing both environmental impact and consumer purchasing power.
2️⃣ Significant environmental impact - by 2029, Underdog's industrial model aims to preserve 620,000 tons of natural resources and avoid 97,000 tons of CO2 emissions, actively contributing to the ecological transition of the sector.
3️⃣ An exceptional team leading the charge – Claire BRETTON, Laura Chavigny, Léa de Fierkowsky, Mathieu Maure and their team have built a company that's not just mission-driven but also economically sound, proving that a circular industrial model is possible and profitable.

A huge congratulations to the Underdog team! We're proud to continue supporting them alongside BNP Paribas Impact, Serena, daphni, and other strategic investors.

More in Les Echos below, article in comments ⬇️

#Underdog #SeriesA #CircularEconomy #Refurbished #SistaFund #ImpactInvesting

🌟 Today, we celebrate a remarkable achievement for Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company!

Hélène has been awarded the prestigious Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year 2025 Award under the patronage of the MONACO WOMEN FORUM, recognizing her outstanding contribution to shaping Europe’s space future through The Exploration Company 🌍🚀

In this inspiring moment, Hélène Huby is pictured alongside Amalia Ercoli Finzi, a trailblazer in space engineering whose decades of work have paved the way for future generations. Together, their legacies are transforming Europe’s role in space exploration.

From all of us at SISTAFUND, a heartfelt congratulations, Hélène! 👏

#WomenInTech #SpaceInnovation #Leadership #Sistafund #ExplorationCompany #EuropeInSpace