Female Founders Fund closes $57 million funding round
Female Founders Fund announced the closing of its Fund III after raising $57 million to create what the New York-based early-stage fund considers “the largest fund for seed capital specifically for female founders.”
Melinda French Gates, through her firm Pivotal Ventures, is one of several limited partners investing in the firm’s $57 million fund. The philanthropist had also backed its $25 million second fund in 2016.
“I firmly believe we are missing out on transformational ideas by not putting resources behind women,” said Melinda French Gates, founder of Pivotal Ventures, in a statement. “I’ve invested in the Female Founders Fund because we need women founders and funders at the table if we want to build a more prosperous and inclusive economy for everyone. New and innovative ideas come from everywhere; we can’t keep looking in the same old packages.”
The oversubscribed fund is also backed by institutional investors including Goldman Sachs, Cambridge Associates, Twitter, Plexo Capital and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. It also includes investments from 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Houseparty co-founder Sima Sistani.
The third round of funding brings the Female Founders Fund’s total amount of assets under management to more than $95 million.
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