We are living in remarkable times. At HAYVN, we’ve been watching with increasing interest as Venture Capital (VC) firms, including a growing number of female-led VC firms, invested more dollars in female-founded or co-founded businesses than in any other time in history. Over $25 billion in funding alone has been raised in the first half of 2021, but that’s not the whole story.
We would be inspired by this if we didn’t keep reading and realize that this $25 billion represents an impossibly small percentage of overall funds invested. During 2020, venture investments into women-founded businesses comprised less than 3% of the total funds invested. This misalignment of resources is even more surprising given the increasing data that shows that women-founded and women-led businesses outperform their male-founded and led businesses on a variety of metrics including revenue and ROI.
HAYVN’s mission has always been to support and energize women on their personal and professional journeys and is now helping do that by hosting the Angel Investing 101 workshop. We’ve seen first-hand the intelligent, well thought out, and timely business ideas from the women in our HAYVN community. We recently completed our first incubator for women-founded businesses, HAYVN LAUNCH where a skilled team worked with six female-founded businesses to prepare them to raise equity capital.
Christine Sullivan, Business Consultant at Connecticut Small Business Development Center (SBDC), says:
“I have spent most of my career helping entrepreneurs raise capital, and unfortunately, most of them have been men. I’m trying to change that – one cohort of women-founded businesses at a time.”
At the HAYVN LAUNCH finale, the teams competed at the HAYVN HATCH pitch event where for the first time, the audience voted with their wallets and contributed directly to the businesses that they felt were most promising.
How Angel Investing 101 was Born
Seeing all the enthusiasm and support for HAYVN’s initial cohort of women-founded businesses, Felicia Rubinstein, HAYVN’s founder, wanted to expand the impact she was having in the community. As she works to scale her incubator, she asked what could be done to increase the funding sources to support these women.
Christine Sullivan from the CT SBDC and Alison Malloy from CT Innovations both had the same idea: create a strong network of women investors who are engaged with our growing group of women entrepreneurs.
Alison Malloy, Director of Investments at Connecticut Investments said:
“I think there is something special about having a women’s investor group. Women can do due diligence together, can look at companies together, and can share ideas.”
Alison has been investing in start-up companies for 10+ years and has recently leaned in to cultivate women investors through the launch of a women-led investor group, called Tidal River. Tidal River’s mission is to educate, inspire and encourage a new ecosystem of women angel investors in Connecticut to get more women on cap tables and boards of companies, and who will invest in and mentor start-up companies in CT.
Specifics on the Angel Investing 101 Workshop
In the spirit of supporting women investing in women, HAYVN has joined with Connecticut’s SBDC and Tidal River to offer an Angel Investing 101 workshop series designed to help women understand the type of questions they should ask when considering investments as well as provide tools, terminology, and functional knowledge of angel investing. Alison Malloy and Christine Sullivan, who will lead the workshop, will also cover the investment process from start to finish with topics ranging from pitch evaluation, due diligence, valuation, financials, to term sheets. Attendees, in the role of possible future Angel Investors, will also have an opportunity to participate in a guest pitch from a female-founded company.
In addition, the workshop will connect women interested in exploring investing with a network of women investors, such as Tidal River’s initiative. Please reserve a spot here, space is limited to 20.
The Angel Investing 101 workshop series, which includes lunch, will take place at HAYVN’s Darien coworking space in Fairfield County, CT on 9/22, 9/29, and 10/6 from 12pm to 2pm.
Jen Gorin, Tidal River Board Member and CEO & Founder of Impact Growth Partners, says,
“With this workshop, we’re hoping to educate our community and put more money into the CT ecosystem.”
About Our Presenters
Alison Malloy is Director of Investments at Connecticut Investments and is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities, structuring investments, and accelerating portfolio companies through board participation. She joined CI in 2017 and led investments in Voiceitt, Fresh Nation, Aberdeen-Big Willow, Invixium, Lifestyle CX, Shop Tomorrows, and Sea Green Farms. Alison Founded Tidal River, a no-cost investment women-led investor group in CT.
Christine Sullivan is a Business Advisor for the Connecticut Small Business Development Center where she helps entrepreneurs and small business owners get to that next milestone. Her expertise in developing business plans and finding the right sources of capital help companies achieve their short- and long-term goals. Prior to this role, Christine worked for over 15 years as an investment banker raising capital for high growth technology businesses.
HAYVN Coworking
Founded in 2018, HAYVN is a flexible workspace for enterprising women (and men) to connect, create and grow. Along with a vibrant & engaged coworking community of entrepreneurs and business professionals, HAYVN is a business HUB, offering short- and long-term office space leases, meeting rooms rentals, and events to support local businesses. HAYVN is proud to be a Certified B Corporation™ and a CTNext partner. We believe in using the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy and have met the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. HAYVN’s workshops and signature programs encourage women of all colors and ages and acts as an incubator for developing skills and pursuing funding. HAYVN Launch incubator is a 2021 winner of the SBA's Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC), and the only 2021 winner in Connecticut.
Visit our beautiful safe ‘HAYVN’ in Fairfield County, CT at 320 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT, 06820. Arrange a private tour today, or to learn more about our health and safety response, read through our detailed guidelines here.
