Female Foundry Week 98: Hello 2024. A watershed moment. The invitation to the Launch Event.
Welcome to The Week 98, 2024 Edition of the Female Foundry newsletter!
Female Foundry - where investors and female founders meet.
It feels great to be back! I missed the newsletter! As we are very busy with gearing up for the Launch Event of the State of Gender Diversity in European Venture initiative in a couple of weeks’ time, this will be a slightly shortened version of the newsletter. Tune in!
In the news
Zurich-based Rivero, co-founded by Fatemeh Nikayin, raises a €6.3m Series A round led by 6 Degrees Capital and Inference Partners for its payment solution; UK-based FA Bio, co-founded by Angela de Manzanos, bags a £5.3m Series A round co-led by Clean Growth Fund and Pymwymic, for its microbial bio-product solution; Munich-based einwert, co-founded by Dr. Christina Mauer, secures a €4m funding round led by Ventech, for its value management platform for real estate; London-based Self Space, co-founded by Jodie Cariss, picks up a £2.25m Seed round led by Redrice Ventures to create ‘therapy on every high street’; London-based GIN E-bikes, co-founded by Marina Vlasenko, fetches a €580k Pre-Seed round to speed up production of hybrid bikes; UK-based Furbnow, co-founded by Becky Lane, raises a £950k Pre-Seed round led by SFC Capital to decarbonise 1 million homes by 2030.
Copenhagen-based Kost Capital, co-founded by Bodil Sidén completes first close of its €25m target fund focused on backing pre-seed and seed stage bio-economy startups.
Spotlight
A watershed moment.
Fresh, new 2024 is here. With high hopes, plans, bucket lists and projections, there is one question on many investors minds: when will the exit drought end? LPs, in particular, are desperate to see the flood gates open with a wave of distributions. The freshly released study that surveyed 240 fund managers, concludes that most of fund managers remain sceptical about the IPO environment. While nearly 50% percent of those surveyed anticipate an increased focus on M&A, just over 4% foresee greater interest in IPOs and 11% expect a balance between the two categories.
On the M&A front, limited resources are leading to an alternative exit strategy for struggling startups: consolidation. Established companies, previously deterred by high costs, now view venture-backed startups as opportunities to acquire great teams, technologies, and market share at favourable prices.
The situation is slightly different when it comes to IPOs. While there may be more interest in public listings – publicly traded equities ended 2023 on a high note after the Federal Reserve indicated in November that moderating inflation should warrant at least three interest rate cuts in 2024, leading stock indexes near record levels and increasing investor receptivity to riskier stocks – most growth and early-stage investors retain a cautiously optimistic outlook.
So, while lower or stable interest rates are likely to motivate acquirers using debt financing to pursue attractive deals, mainly through roll-ups and consolidation opportunities, the outlook for the IPO market remains uncertain.
Community
Your invitation to the Launch Event on the 29th of January.
We are two weeks away from the Launch Event of the State of Gender Diversity in European Venture report and intitative.
I would like to personally invite you to the live broadcast of the event on the 29th of January from 5-7.30pm GMT. Make sure that you register!
Are you planning to be in London on the 29th of January?
I would like to give away twenty tickets for the exclusive Launch Event happening in London to the subscribers - investors, founders and friends - of the Female Foundry newsletter!
The Launch Event will bring together VC investors, emerging fund managers, LP investors, founders and broader European ecosystem players.
*Please make sure to enter the draw by the 19th of January. The tickets will be distributed to the lucky winners on the 20th of January and announced in the next newsletter.
Zinc's next cohort will be kicking off in May 2024 with a focus on improving the health of people and the planet - areas we believe present a broad range of exciting opportunities for commercial innovation and impact at scale. Applications close on the 31st of January so do not hesitate to apply here.
Hiring
This week hiring:
Incapto ➯ Sales B2C Agent | Kamma ➯ Senior Content Manager | Woba ➯ Senior Content Marketing Manager | Hepster ➯ Team Lead B2B Sales.
Happy New Year to you all! Have a great week and see you next weekend.
Agata
Written by Agata Leliwa Nowicka, an investor, a startup adviser, a two-time entrepreneur, and a founder of Female Foundry based in London.
Suggestions? Drop me an email.
Check femalefoundry.co for more fundraising tools and investor content. View other Female Foundry articles.