Are you intrigued by angel investing? Interested in engaging with experienced founders? Would you appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from investment leaders?
The Capital Angel Network, Invest Ottawa and Title Sponsor BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund are hosting this event for current and aspiring women angel investors, supporters and promoters as part of International Women’s Week 2023 in Ottawa.
Over the last five years, women-founded startups have never exceeded 2.8 percent of the total investment allocated to firms. A new PitchBook data found that U.S. companies with all-women founders are raising less capital this year than in 2021 amid current economic challenges.
According to Crunchbase, women raised around 2.4% of all venture capital allocated in the US last year, a figure which stood at 1.9% in the third quarter of 2022. This number becomes even lower – even worse – if we factor race into account. While the overall percentage of US investment allocated to all-women teams was 2.4% in 2021, Black and Latinx women hovered around 0.05% each, while Indigenous founders raised approximately 0.004%.
How do we move the dial on this? We need more women making investment decisions from the other side of the table. According to the All In: Female Founders in the US VC Ecosystem report, US VC deal value for female founders reached $32.4 billion through the third quarter of 2022, already raising more capital than any year before the record highs set in 2021. On the check-writing front, the numbers underscore that the industry is still a long way from equal gender and diversity representation. Female investors account for just 16.1% of VC decision-makers in the US. Furthermore, 95.5% of VC firms have a majority male population of decision-makers.
Join us for the Women Angel Investor Breakfast; help drive long-term sustainable change.
Agenda
7:30 am – Onsite Networking
All guests with in-person tickets are invited to Bayview Yards for a 30-minute networking breakfast.
8:00 am – Welcome
Jennifer Francis, Chair of the Capital Angel Network, Director of the Board, Invest Ottawa, Investor, and Co-Founder of SheBoot
8:05 am – Opening Keynote & Fireside Chat
Sonya Shorey, Vice President, Strategy, Marketing & Communications, Invest Ottawa, and Co-founder of SheBoot
Arlene Dickinson, Managing General Partner at District Ventures Capital, Co-Managing Partner, M&A at Believeco:Partners, CEO of Venturepark Labs, and Dragon on CBC’s Dragon’s Den
Arlene Dickinson is a serial entrepreneur and General Partner of District Ventures Capital, a venture capital fund focused on helping market, fund and grow entrepreneurs and their companies in the food and health space.
She is a three-time best-selling author, podcaster and accomplished public speaker. Dickinson is widely recognized for her role as a Dragon/Venture Capitalist for over 14 seasons on the multi-award-winning CBC television series Dragons Den.
Ms. Dickinson’s leadership has been recognized many times, including Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Hall of Fame, the Pinnacle Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, and PROFIT and Chatelaine’s Top 100 Women Business Owners. She is a Marketing Hall of Legends inductee and a proud recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award. Dickinson has served as an Honourary Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy for many years.
She sits on several public and private boards and actively supports the community and country.
8:50 am – Panel Discussion
Facilitated by Julia Elvidge ICD.D, Co-Founder of SheBoot, High Tech Advisor, Director of the Board, Capital Angel Network Board, and Investor
9:30 am – Presentation
Next Steps to Becoming an Informed Investor with open Q&A facilitated by Jennifer Francis, Chair of the Capital Angel Network, Director of the Board, Invest Ottawa and Bayview Yards, SheBoot Co-Founder, and Investor.
10:00 am – Concluding Remarks & Networking
We aim to:
- Consistently increase the number of women angel investors in Canada’s Capital and inspire similar action across the country and around the world; and
- Create new and impactful opportunities for experienced female funders and founders to encourage and support aspiring and early-stage women entrepreneurs.
Help us achieve these goals and drive positive change.
Join us for breakfast on February 28 to:
- Learn the basics of angel investing
- Hear from existing women angels in Ottawa
- Network with fellow like-minded women in our community
- Learn about some of the top women-founded companies in the city
Join us for this free virtual event!
—————————————>
Special Note: By registering for this event, you accept that you will receive event-related emails, as well as an invitation to subscribe to our mailing list.
We look forward to welcoming you on Zoom on February 28th for our Women Angel Investor Breakfast. To learn more about:
- The Capital Angel Network, please visit https://www.capitalangels.ca/
- Invest Ottawa, please visit: www.investottawa.ca
- SheBoot, please visit: www.investottawa.ca/SheBoot
- IWW 2023, please visit: https://www.investottawa.ca/IWW/
Keep up to date with what’s to come during IWW by following #WeMeanBusiness and #IWW2023.
—————————————>
Special Thanks to our 2023 Title Sponsor, BDC Capital’s Thrive Venture Fund