附近上门

Prominent investor and entrepreneur just closed a $3.5 million fund targeted at making women a larger part of the decision-making process in venture capital.

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Her firm will invest in female scouts, who will independently seek deal flow. For those who don鈥檛 know, scouts help large venture capital firms find the next dorm-room-dreamt startup. Sequoia Capital, for example, sources scout to help its firm find undercover deals – and has been doing so for over a decade.

Investors in the fund include Away founder , , and of .

Kunst is specifically targeting female scouts because of their lack of representation in the venture capital room. , 91 percent of decision-makers in the industry are male.

Beyond investing in scouts, Kunst said the fund will be used to invest in follow-on rounds that flow from scout investments and her own personal choice to invest in certain companies.

That said, Cleo Capital is not specifying any target verticals or requiring the new women scouts to only invest in female-founded companies. Kunst said this frees up the scouts to focus on finding the best deals.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to put a bunch of random restrictions on you, you鈥檙e brilliant, you鈥檙e smart and I鈥檓 going to trust you with that,鈥� Kunst told 附近上门 News, of her scouts. 鈥淭hey can invest in whoever they want.鈥�

With her fund, she expects each scout to make around five investments each. That number may change as some industries are more capital intensive than others, Kunst noted.

Kunst declined to explain how much money each scout will have to invest with, or how many scouts she has already locked down. That said, she has secured a 鈥渓iteral rocket scientist鈥� and the co-founder of , . She is also recruiting scouts in Denver, Detroit, and other locations going forward.

, a partner at , told me last month about how she鈥檚 noticing a growing class of female venture capitalists. No longer are we in a world where venture capitalists have to come from a male-dominated semiconductor and computer chip industry, she said. Walne herself came into venture capital from an 鈥渦ntraditional鈥� path, coming from a job as a director at , which helps startups manage equity for employees.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a new subset of venture capitalists,鈥� she said, referring to a rising class of female venture capitalists.

That said, Walne said聽 鈥渢here’s no one better suited than Sarah to utilize the network effects of the strongest females in the Valley to identify untapped, female-led opportunities.鈥�

鈥淪he understands that there are so few women who have built recognizable startups that when they spot a good opportunity they know exactly which characteristics make them attractive investment opportunities,鈥� she added.

Kunst noted that companies she鈥檚 looked at have raised more than her entire fund in a single round. , Cleo Capital was aiming toward $10 million – but ended up raising $3.5 million.

This is the second largest fund closed by a black, female venture capitalist in America, Kunst added.

鈥淪uper happy to be that number two,鈥� Kunst said. 鈥淎nd I hope I get replaced soon with someone who has raised a much bigger one.

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