#EcosystemGiants returns - with Reshma Sohoni (Managing Partner, Seedcamp) on Tuesday, 14 September 2021!
#EcosystemGiants are the talks that highlight the leaders redefining the tech investment and entrepreneurship landscape.
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*If this post was delivered directly to your inbox**, welcome back! Delighted to (still) have you on the journey we set out to take more than a year ago, together, to increase transparency in the venture capital industry.
If you are new, welcome! The drive behind ‘Ecosystem’ has always been two-fold - to support pre-seed (women) founders get ahead in their (your) fundraising journeys and to help them (you) better understand the way the fundraising process works. From another, it has strived to make it possible for new entrants with a desire to be capital allocators join and excel in an industry, which has been notoriously difficult for outsiders to reach.
In a way, by joining ‘EcosystemGiants’ (and by reading the newsletter), I hope you get plugged in in an ecosystem of its (our) own. A web of network and connections that’s taken me years to build. Why am I opening it up? Because I care. Because I would like to see capital being allocated to ‘less obvious’ entrepreneurs and managers. Ones who reflect the diversity of the world we live in. Who beat all the odds against them. So that innovations that serve the society we live in at large are brought to life.
If you would like to find out more, drop me a line by hitting ‘reply’.
The opening guest of season #2 of #EcosystemGiants could not have been more special (and I admit, I do get starstruck writing this!). It is a woman who co-founded one of the top (and busiest) early-stage VC firms in Europe (often referred to as the ‘Y Combinator of Europe’); with a portfolio of over 390 companies (and 5 unicorns!) . She is one of the most influential investors on the continent - recognised numerous times in various industry charts such as Forbes Midas List for Europe (for the last four years in a row!) and sits on the Digital Economy Council, working alongside the UK government and leading tech industry experts to provide policy advice to support tech startups and innovation in the UK.
She does not need further introduction. She is Reshma Sohoni - and it is a real honour to have her join #EcosystemGiants on Tuesday, 14 September at 6pm CET (5pm UK). Reshma is Managing Partner of Seedcamp the European seed fund she co-founded in 2007 with a strong belief that European entrepreneurs have the power to compete on a global scale. Over a decade later and Seedcamp has raised five funds and its portfolio includes publicly listed Romanian-founded company UiPath, and unicorns: Wise (formerly TransferWise), Revolut, wefox and Hopin.
Reshma is passionate about the intersection of business and technology and has degrees in Engineering and Business from UPenn and M&T as well as an MBA from INSEAD. She describes starting Seedcamp as a "once in a lifetime opportunity and one that she jumped into with a strong desire to help the European founder realize global success."
“Entrepreneurs aren’t something you do at the start, it’s what you are because you started something. So one needs to think hard about what they are starting up, why, and if they have the perseverance to make it their life’s calling for likely the next 10 years.”
A conversation about :
Building a top first round fund
Spotting unicorn companies early (5 European billion-dollar businesses!); and funding over 380 start-ups that change the way the world lives
Establishing a network and a name across industries and countries
How can we increase the number of female capital allocators in venture?
Tune in at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK) on Tuesday 14 September 2021.
Timings (CEST)
18:00 Start; in conversation with Reshma Sohoni (Managing Partner, Seedcamp)
18:30 Market commentary and Q&A
18:45 Pitching for feedback, Heidi Lee (Co-Founder, Finuprise) will share the vision for the company raising a seed round to become the European 'Robinhood' for the socially-conscious retail investor
18:55 End
Moderated by Tzvete Doncheva, Founder 'Ecosystem'; IR and Platform Manager, PropTech1 Ventures
Supported by community partners:
Kaiku, MentorshipHub, ParlayMe, Startups Magazine
If you would like to find out more about the ‘Ecosystem’ project, you may reach me on Twitter or Linkedin.