- March 22, 2024
- Posted by: EBAN Team
- Category: News
About Angels for Women
Angels for Women is the first mostly-women Business Angels Network focused on investing in female-led startups.
Founded in 2018 by AXA Italy and Impact Hub Benefit Corporation, the Network has grown to include over 70 Business Angels, + 90% of whom are women, and has channeled over 800,000 euros into investments. Its portfolio features 14 startups spread across five diverse sectors.
Why Angels for Women
We firmly believe that diversity is a factor of growth and development and want to be at the forefront of reducing the gender gap in the field of innovation and business.
Motivated by this strong belief, we are committed to reducing the gender gap by urging mostly women, but also men, to support other women. This effort aims to reduce the gender gap both in the business angel ecosystem and in the entrepreneurship sector, contributing to economic vitality. Indeed, female business angels, though in minority, tend to outperform, and the same is true for women-majority startups: despite constituting only 14% of the total in Italy, they achieve better results both in terms of revenue and the likelihood of rapid growth.
What we do
Angels for Women primarily conducts investment activities, first scouting, screening and due diligence, but also provides training and actively participates in recruitment and dissemination by attending and promoting events, conferences, workshops, and seminars focused on angel investing and women’s entrepreneurship.
Investment process
The investment process unfolds through several stages, starting with the scouting of entrepreneurial projects, followed by an initial pre-screening phase, and leading up to the selection stage, where our committee selects the startups to be presented to our members during the four annual meetings. At each meeting, 3 startups and all its founders present their projects to A4W members, who can express a €5k minimum soft commitment. With €50k of cumulative interest reached we proceed with the identification of a Deal Champion who will lead the Due Diligence. If the results of the Due Diligence are positive, those who expressed a Soft Commitment translate it into Hard Commitment and proceed with the investment, usually through an entirely digital trust. After the investment is completed, the startups are requested to produce a quarterly report and a call every six months to update the investors. Each year, we assess over 150 women-led startups and since 2019, our database has expanded to include more than 600 startups and founders. As of now, we have invested more than €840.000 in 14 startups.
Education
Our goal is to ensure that all our members can acquire the needed knowledge to fully participate to Angels for Women‘s social life.
Our training sessions are led by experienced members of our team, partners or external professionals with a strong experience in angel investing. For this purpose, with Impact Hub Benefit Corporation we developed the executive courses “How to Become a Business Angel” and “How to Become a Deal Champion.” The former is organized twice a year over 5 weeks and encompasses topics from what it means to become a business angel to how to evaluate startups to recent trends in the market. The latter is organized once a year and includes sessions related to the Due Diligence and the exit.
Beyond these executive offerings, we provide our members with the “Lunch & Learn” webinars, which are targeted learning sessions on specific topics. These are live-streamed during lunch hours, allowing participants to engage deeply with a broad spectrum of subjects. Topics covered range from navigating investment trends in web3 and A4W’s tools and services effectively, leveraging our partner EBAN’s platform, and exploring opportunities for female entrepreneurship provided by Invitalia.
Recruiting, scouting and dissemination activities
For us, supporting female leadership within startups and companies means increasing the number of women embarking on a journey in angel investing and, with them and the many national networks, keeping the conversation alive. For this reason, in the last two years, we have participated in over 50 events, conferences, workshops, and seminars. We are also continuously dedicated to scouting female-led startups and ensuring a rich and valuable deal flow. This is achieved by serving as judges in key national and international competitions targeting startups, as well as participating in demo days and informal events of many organizations.
Our partners
Angels for Women has access to an extensive network of partners that includes key players on both a national and international level across four strategic categories: investments, women empowerment, startups, and innovation networks.
Together, we are committed to creating a more equitable and diverse ecosystem.
Business Angels: Why Joining Angels for Women
Joining Angels for Women empowers you to actively drive the change. Our members enjoy a broad spectrum of services and opportunities. Highlights include participation in our four annual pitch events, access to a database featuring over 600 female-led startups, educational programs, discounted event fees, and preferential rates for financial services. Furthermore, A4W members can enhance their visibility through our extensive communication channels, including those of our partners, and by serving as A4W spokespersons at various events, conferences, and workshops.
Startups: When and How to Apply
Angels for Women takes into consideration applications from companies that are run by women or that mainly focused on female customers. These companies must have at least one woman in an operational role at the managerial level, in particular female governance must be able to influence the strategic choices of the company through their corporate role or through participation in the share capital.
Submissions are open all year round and for each plenary meeting the screening committee selects 3 startups to be presented.
For more detailed information about the submission and screening procedures, as well as the 2024 calendar, please visit our website.
Let’s connect
Email address: info@angels4women.com
Web site: https://angels4women.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angels4women/