Happy New Year & Reflections on 2020 from Female Founders Fund

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year from Female Founders Fund! As we move into 2021, we wanted to take a moment to share our reflections on the past year.

Team 👩‍👩‍👧‍👧

In 2020, we added three new members to the FFF team. On the investing side, Adrianna Samaniego joined us from Columbia Business School this spring prior to spending eight years at Google followed by internships at Jet Blue Ventures and Harlem Capital. Emily Powers joined us from TPG’s Rise Impact fund where she spent the last three years. On the platform team, we brought on Caroline McKechnie as Operations Associate, working with our Head of Platform Emily St. Denis to support FFF’s content and community efforts. We are thrilled to have such a strong team to help accelerate FFF’s growth in the upcoming years.

Additionally, this summer we announced our first ever Entrepreneur in Residence program. This January 2021, Kimberly Wilson, Founder & CEO of HUED will join us as our first EIR. HUED’s technology-enabled platform provides Black and Latino communities access to culturally-competent healthcare providers. We are thrilled to support Kimberly in her efforts to diversify patient and doctor connections through technology.

Portfolio Updates 🚀

As our companies transitioned to a Covid reality, here are a few of the updates.

2020 started off with Maven Clinic’s $45M Series C round led by Icon Ventures with participation by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT, marking one of the largest-ever funding rounds for a female founded women’s healthcare company. In early spring, Peanut raised a $12M Series A led by EQT. In early March, Winky Lux expanded to nearly all 1,868 Target stores with 68 products as Target’s most successful beauty launch in history. Over the summer, mental healthcare startup Real announced a follow-on round led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from FFF and strategic investors including Gwyneth Paltrow. In the fall, BentoBox closed out the year by raising a $28.8M Series C led by Goldman Sachs.

2020 Investments 💸

We were thrilled to welcome these visionary leaders & companies to the FFF portfolio in 2020.

• Base: an affordable at-home lab testing solution to help improve issues related to diet, sleep, stress and brain fog.
• Lex: a text-based dating and social app for queer, non-binary, trans community.
• Oula Health: a modern maternity center that delivers an evidence-based, personalized pregnancy experience.
• Stealth: software that’s reimagining the learning management system.
• Violette_FR: a clean and sustainable beauty & skincare line created by the french makeup artist Violette.

Scout Investments 🔎

In 2020, we made a commitment to focus our scout investments to support women of color at the pre-seed level with the goal of helping increase funding towards diverse founders. Our first investments include:

• Ceremonia: a clean hair care brand rooted in Latinx heritage.
• Stealth: an audio-first professional development platform.
• SUMA: a wealth-building digital platform to accelerate Latino economic power.

2021 Investment Trends📈

Historically, times of crisis have fueled innovation and we remain optimistic. As we track the shifts in consumer behavior in light of the pandemic and the long-term impact across healthcare, education and the future of work, we are excited to research and invest across a few particular themes.

Education — We are excited about the possibility of digital transformation in which technology will be a key enabler and differentiator in education, allowing for increased accessibility across new mediums, more affordable solutions, and further focus on upskilling/reskilling.

Healthcare — The global pandemic has heightened the need for a better healthcare experience on many different levels. Looking forward, we predict that consumerized care-driven models, wellness tech, the ubiquitous nature of personal health data and increasing desire for telehealth will be addressed by entrepreneurs.

Longevity — The aging population has significant economic clout, yet is faced with outdated products and services. There is a need for innovation in companies catering to older adults and this need will only intensify as the demographic shift is exacerbated.

Productivity Tools — Work from home has become a reality that more and more companies are embracing as a long-term viable option. As this cultural shift takes place and location is no longer a limitation, there will be tools built on top of the existing platforms that enable professionals to have a better experience.

Platform & Community 💫

In 2020, we reimagined our platform & community strategy as we transitioned to a virtual world.

We hosted a total of 21 events, including Roundtable Discussions for FFF Founders over Zoom featuring speakers like Amy Errett from Madison Reed and Caryn Seidman-Becker from Clear who shared their business advice for the uncertain times ahead; virtual panels and fireside chats open to the public; our Annual LP Meeting featuring keynote speaker Melinda Gates; virtual Office Hours for Black & Latinx Female Founders with partners like Serena Ventures, 645 Ventures, and Harlem Capital, and more.

From a content perspective, FFF went through a brand refresh, and we launched our first podcast, The 2%, featuring interviews with influential female founders, LPs, and VCs like Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital, Whitney Wolfe Herd of Bumble, and Anne Wojcicki of 23&Me. We’re thrilled for Season 2 (launching in early 2021!) featuring guests like Serena Williams and Mellody Hobson, and hope you’ll continue to follow along.

In Closing…

This year was full of ups and downs, and there is growing concern around the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on women and more specifically female founded startups. With global venture funding for female founders falling significantly in 2020, we are reminded of the critical nature of our mission even more and look forward to continuing our efforts investing in women building category defining businesses in the year to come.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy, healthy 2021!

Cheers,

Team FFF