Hera Venture Summit to Unite Female Angel Investors and Startups

Summit to feature entrepreneurship and investment experts and interactive discussions

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Hera Venture Summit hosted its “Building Bridges” one-day intensive event for female angel investors and woman-led startups. The all-day event turned the tables on venture investing by connecting women founders and funders so that more female angels invest in female entrepreneurs. University of San Diego served as the backdrop for the event, which started at 8:30 a.m.

The Summit brought together experts from both sides of investing to contribute best practices and lessons learned. Experts shared resources, trends, and hot topics around gender investing. Attendees can join an angel track or entrepreneur track and can benefit from blended sessions where both founders and funders can learn from each other.

“The event will allow women in all stages of business – from the pioneers in the startup ecosystem to venture financing – to present their collective knowledge in a powerful and rigorous one-day format,” said Dr. Silvia Mah, event chair and founder of Hera Labs, one of three organizations presenting the event. “The summit was created to support the unique needs of female angels and entrepreneurial women in venture creation and funding, while celebrating the progress we’ve made in closing the gender gap.”

In addition to bridging the divide between female founders and female funders, the event sought to foster binational connections between the San Diego female startup ecosystem and that of neighboring Tijuana. Mujer Pyme International, Angel Ventures Mexico, Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, and Mind Hub are all working together to bridge female founders and funders in the CaliBaja region through the Hera Venture Summit.

Hera Venture Summit panelists included San Diego and nationally-renowned innovators in the venture space: Navrina Singh, Head of Qualcomm Innovation Program; Angela Lee, Founder of 37 Angels in NYC / Assistant Dean of Columbia School of Business; Ciara Kennedy, VP of Shire Pharmaceuticals; Elizabeth Wilson, Managing Partner of Seed GC; and Kimberly Kovacs, Managing Director of Golden Seeds | SoCal; and keynote speakers will include renowned entrepreneur turned VC, Consuelo Valverde, Founding Partner/Managing Director at SV LATAM fund and Kaufmann Fellow and serial entrepreneur/CEO of JeKuDo Privacy Company, Elissa Shevinsky.

Event Overview 

Who: Attendees to include female small business owners, women-run startups, San Diego business leaders and female angel investors. Men are welcome to attend the summit and there will be several male panelists. Students interested in startup and finance are also welcome to attend.

What: Panel topics to include: bridging the gap between entrepreneur and investor; trends in gender investing and female founder ROI; being a female angel investor; how to get funded; bridging binational resources; building your brand story; and more, with opportunities to network and connect throughout the day.

When: Saturday, September 19, 2015 from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. PDT 

Where: University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall: School of Leadership and Education Sciences, San Diego, CA 92110

Cost: $219.00 | $239.00 day-of | Free for students. Pre-summit workshops for angel investors and entrepreneurs will be held on Friday, September 18 for an additional fee.

Attendees can join the conversation around women and investing by using the official Hera Venture Summit hashtags: #HeraVentureSummit, #HVS2015, #PitchLikeAWoman, #InvestLikeAWoman. For more information and to register for the event, please visit www.heraventuresummit.com.

Sponsors of the event include University of San Diego, USBank, Rady School of Management, SCORE, RGL Legal, and OurCrowd.

About Hera Venture Summit:

Hera Venture Summit for entrepreneurs and investors is a one-day intensive event aimed at equipping and connecting female founders and female funders. The event is presented by Hera Hub workspace for women, Hera Labs business accelerator and Hera Fund female angel group.

About Hera Labs:

Hera Labs is a business accelerator for female business owners led by fellow entrepreneurs and advocates for female entrepreneurial and leadership success. The mission of Hera Labs is to equip and propel female founders to successfully launch, grow, and sustain their businesses efficiently and effectively, thus positively impacting the local, national, and global economy. Hera Labs is a sister organization of coworking space Hera Hub. For more information, visit hera-labs.com. 

About Hera Hub:

Since its inception, Hera Hub has provided a platform and presence for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. We believe in building a community that provides an avenue for support, collaboration, connections and coworking for women to invest in women. We have three San Diego locations and are expanding nationally through franchising; our first east coast location is in Washington DC. For more information about finding productive workspaces, visit herahub.com. For franchise opportunities, visit herahubfranchise.com.