One Year of Jane VC

Ann Bordetsky
Nov 7 · 4 min read

What we’re doing to change the game for visionary female founders

A few weeks ago the AllRaise Summit invite hit my inbox for the second annual event. It was like someone holding up a billboard sign saying: “Hey there, did you forget something important?” Uh-huh.

Last year the AllRaise Summit coincided with the debut of Jane VC, so it’s our 1 YEAR anniversary of launching a fund for visionary female tech founders.

Wow, what a year it’s been!

When we launched Jane VC, we picked up the sword on a really tough and important problem. Only 3% of venture capital goes to female-founded companies (welp!). Even our own sample data of tech founders shows that women raise about $0.37 for every $1.00 their male contemporaries raise at the early stage (and shockingly only $0.02 for black female founders).

That data stood in stark contrast to the reality we saw around us and among our contemporaries. Plenty of ambitious female founders and start-up builders. Talent coming up the ranks in the big tech platforms and women rising the ranks of mature industries as change agents. Basically, a rising tide of talent with ideas and ambition that is systematically underinvested in. And we thought — great, your blindspot is our opportunity, let’s go!

As it turns out, launching a new early stage fund is a lot like building a start-up. It’s the same scrappy hustle of building and iterating, investing and learning, going deep to understand your customer (founders!) and honing the strategy. (Not to mention fundraising, branding and partnerships).

But you know what? That makes it REALLY easy to relate to the founders we work with. We’re right there with them going after a big bold vision and putting in the sweat equity to get it done. We root for founders and they root for Jane VC. It’s amazing to experience and it keeps us going.

You can’t do all that without 100% passion and commitment. From day one, Jen Neundorfer and Maren Bannon have gone ALL-IN on Jane VC and it shows. Their passion, grit and execution is top notch, as fund managers and founder champions. I see it and I want everyone else to see it too. Unlike angel networks or collectives (many of which we love and partner with), Jane VC is a managed fund by design. We’re making long-term bets on female founders and Jane VC is being built to last.

Here’s what Jane VC has been been up to in Year 1:

  • Launched Fund 1 to back female founders at the pre-seed and seed stage
  • Invested in 15 visionary teams building in Enterprise, SaaS, Commerce
  • Met 1,500 female led startups (our commitment to the cold pitch)
  • Established presence 5 tech hubs (SF, BOS, NYC, LON, AMS)
  • Partnered on 3 benchmark reports on female founders and VCs. You can’t change what you don’t measure! (read TableStakes by Carta)
  • Built the largest female Operator Network in tech to support founders
Jane VC Portfolio Founding Teams. Check our their companies!

We’re just getting started but here’s a few stats on our portfolio to date:

  • 86% have female CEOs
  • 79% of founders are over age 30
  • 60% of our founders are non-white
  • 29% based outside the US
  • 100% exceptional people with big ideas

Our focus is primarily on technology platforms that are driving the future of work, commerce and business automation. We’re seeing an exciting wave of talent in B2B / SaaS right now. At the same time, given commitment to exceptional female founders, we intentionally keep our aperture wide across industries and sectors. Today, our portfolio is roughly:

  • 1/2 Enterprise solutions for mature industries and employers
  • 1/4 Commerce platforms and digital tools for builders and creators
  • 1/4 Marketplace products

We look for visionary founders with bets timed well to a big market and with the right founding team to execute. Like any investor, we also look for that founder “je ne sais quoi”. We just do it knowing that it comes in many shapes, sizes and colors — talent is everywhere, different is an asset.

Great talent is everywhere. Jen and Maren on the road in BOS, NYC, London, Amsterdam, LA, SF.

So what’s next for Jane VC?

We’re doubling down on our founders and our mission:

  • We will 10x the amount of capital we deploy to female founders
  • We will back 100 visionary female founders over the next 5 years
  • We will partner, co-invest and collaborate in service of founders first

Finally, I’ll say this. It’s a whole lotta FUN to put a little dent in the universe. We are lucky to work in an industry where there are so many ways to do that.

Join us!

Subscribe to the Jane VC newsletter (quarterly, we won’t blitz your inbox)

Follow @JaneVentureCap (Twitter) and LinkedIn

Pitch Jane: pitch@janevc.com

Join the Jane Operator Network: ann@janevc.com

Jane 1.0 getting started at AllRaise 2018. From left: Jennifer Neundorfer, Ann Bordetsky, Maren Bannon.

Ann Bordetsky

Written by

Thirsty for knowledge. Big on impact. Glass 3/4 Full. COO @ Rival, formerly Business Development @ Uber | Side hustle @ Jane VC

@janeventurecapital

Early stage venture fund transforming the tech world one female led startup, tech leader and investor at a time. Jane is VC for every woman.

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