Good morning.
What would it take for women to increase their ranks in senior investment roles and executive committee positions?
That was the question on the table at yesterday’s 100 Women in Finance Global FundWomen Week conference in New York City, which aimed to connect female fund managers with institutional allocators.
Gains for women in alternatives, which includes hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital, have inched along. Female employment in alternatives rose marginally last year to 21.3%, up from 20.9% in 2021, according to Preqin’s Women in Alternatives 2023 report. Women accounted for 32.5% of junior level positions in alternatives but only held 13.6% of senior level positions, Preqin said. Women accounted for 10.3% of board membership among fund managers and 14.2% of investors.
Christopher Ailman, chief investment officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS delivered the opening keynote. He offered an anecdote where he recalled speaking to a very successful female executive on Wall Street in the 1980s. In the 1980s, this woman admitted to Ailmen that when she climbed the ladder on Wall Street, if she saw another woman in the room, she considered them her competition. This woman thought her job was to beat the other women because there were only a few spots for them, he said.
“And I’m just like, no, that can’t be right. If you climb the ladder, the first thing you have to do is turn around and put your hand back down and pull somebody else up. You’ve got to network together,” Ailman told a crowd filled with fund managers and investors, who were nearly all female. Ailman added that he was passionate about pushing diversity, particularly women. “You’re half the population,” he said.
But in 2023 there is certainly a sense that women are helping women, and the gatekeepers to capital are the ones who could extend a hand. Some well-known female executives who attended the 100 Women event Thursday include Ivelina Green, founder and CIO, Pearlstone Alternative; Sherrese Clarke Soares, founder and CEO, HarbourView Equity Partners; and Nancy Davis, founder and CIO, Quadratic Capital Management.
Sachee Trivedi, founder and director of Trident Capital Investments, an India-focused public equity firm, pointed to the more than $80 trillion under management in the U.S. (the $80 trillion represents the money managed by pension funds, family offices, foundations and endowments), according to a Knight Diversity of Asset Managers study from December 2022. Nearly all, or 98.6%, of the more than $80 trillion is managed by white men. “I think that number is wrong. Should that number be more 50-50 between white men and everybody else? I do not know, but as an engineer I can tell you that number is wrong,” Trivedi said on the sidelines of the conference.
Trivedi has two engineering degrees and is the former global equity fund manager for Columbia Threadneedle Investments EMEA & APAC. She said she believes in meritocracy. Trident, her firm, is currently out fundraising. “I don’t need anyone’s charity to allocate money to me. But you raise the bar, you put the bar [in front of me] and I’m going to cross it,” Trivedi said.
In any other industry, women or people of color are not denied raw material, Trivedi said. If she wanted to set up a petroleum company or a real estate business, she could get the land or the product, she said. “For the asset management industry, the fund is the raw material. Are we denied? We are denied because 98.6% of the raw material is with the white male,” she said.
Have a great weekend,
Luisa Beltran
Twitter: @LuisaRBeltran
Email: luisa.beltran@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- ARTBIO, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company developing therapies designed to treat cancer, raised $90 million in Series A funding, from Third Rock Ventures and others.
- Pontera, a New York City-based provider of wealth management services for 401(k) participants, raised $60 million in funding. ICONIQ Growth led the round and was joined by existing investors Blumberg Capital, Collaborative Fund, Hanaco Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and The Founders Kitchen.
- Tovala, a Chicago, Ill.-based meal delivery company, raised $45 million in funding from General Catalyst.
- AutogenAI, a London, U.K.-based AI tool designed to help organizations write bids, tenders, and proposals faster, raised $39.5 million in Series B funding. Salesforce Ventures and Spark Capital led the round and were joined by Blossom Capital.
- Nth Cycle, a Boston, Mass.-based metals refining company, raised $37 million in Series B funding from VoLo Earth Ventures, Caterpillar Venture Capital, and others.
- Air Space Intelligence, a San Francisco-based developer of AI-powered aviation technology, including a program that calculates the best plane routes, raised $34 million in Series B funding. a16z led the round and was joined by existing investors Bloomberg Beta, Renegade Partners, and Spark Capital.
- Rhythms, a Bellevue, Wash.-based AI-powered operating system that identifies the habits of high performing teams, raised $26 million in seed funding. Greenoaks and Madrona led the round and were joined by Accel, Cercano, and Founders’ Co-op.
- Opal Security, a New York City and San Francisco-based identity, security, and access management platform for enterprises, raised $22 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Greylock and Box Group.
- Simply Homes, a Portland, Maine-based platform designed to optimize the acquisition, renovation, and leasing of stagnant houses for lower-income families, raised $22 million in funding. Gutter Capital and Watchung Capital led the round and were joined by Village Global, Ambush Capital, RavenOne Ventures, and others.
- January Technologies, a New York City-based debt collection platform designed to make debt collection more fair and with less risk, raised $12 million in Series B funding. IA Ventures led the round and was joined by Brewer Lane Ventures, Third Prime, Reciprocal Ventures, and others.
- OurSky, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based network of telescopes designed to provide data for space applications, raised $9.5 million in seed funding. Upfront Ventures led the round and was joined by Oceans Ventures, Venrex Investment Management, Marlinspike Partners, and Embedded Ventures.
- DataCebo, a Boston, Mass.-based developer of synthetic data designed to train enterprise AI and models, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Link Ventures and Zetta Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Uncorrelated Ventures.
- Mulberri, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AI-driven embedded insurance platform, raised $6.8 million in Series A funding. Eos Venture Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Hanover Technology Management, MS&AD Ventures, and Altamont Capital Partners.
- InpharmD, an Atlanta, Ga.-based platform designed to provide AI-powered responses to clinical health questions, raised $6 million in seed funding. 645 Ventures led the round and was joined by Atlanta Ventures, Y Combinator, Qlarant Capital, and others.
- Sindri, a Denver, Colo.-based zero-knowledge proof infrastructure platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. CoinFund led the round and was joined by others.
- Solvento, a Mexico City, Mexico-based developer of technological and financial solutions designed to help companies in the trucking sector automate and speed up collections and payments, raised $3.5 million in a seed extension. Quona Capital led the round and was joined by Dynamo Ventures, Ironspring Ventures, Proeza Ventures, and Zenda VC.
- Pimento, a Paris, France-based AI tool for creativity, raised €3 million ($3.2 million) in seed funding. Partech led the round and was joined by Cygni and angel investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- ACI Learning, backed by Boathouse Capital, acquired Infosec Learning, a Baltimore, Md.-based cybersecurity, cyber ranges, and software education platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- BMG Ventures acquired a minority stake in Sara Happ, a Los Angeles-based lip treatment and beauty product brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Ignite Visibility, backed by Mountaingate Capital, acquired Integrated Digital Strategies, an Orlando, Fla.-based digital marketing agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Nearmap, backed by Thoma Bravo, agreed to acquire Betterview, a San Francisco-based property intelligence and risk management platform for the insurance industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Arctos Partners acquired a minority stake in Paris Saint-Germain, a Paris, France-based French soccer club, from Qatar Sports Investments, at a valuation of approximately €4 billion ($4.3 billion).
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Falfurrias Management Partners, a Charlotte, N.C.-based private equity firm, raised $400 million for its first fund focused on businesses in the software and business services sectors.
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