The new development comes from Highline BETA, which is a startup co-creation and a new venture development company. The organization operates in the U.S. and Canada. Highline BETA has relaunched the Female Funders Angel Academy.
The Female Funders Angel Academy is an accelerator program aimed at female corporate and technology executives, in reaching a higher level, as they pursue angel investing. An angel investor is an individual who provides capital for a business start-up. The investment is typically in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A recent trend has been with online investments or angel networks, which to share research and pool the investment capital.
In Canada, for example, just six percent of deal-making venture capitalists and 20 percent of angel investors are female. To help address this, Female Funders is collaborating with the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) to put together a new standard of education in angel investing. This is dubbed the Female Funders’ Angel Academy.
In 2017 the Female Funders program was acquired by Highlined BETA in 2017. With the 2018 re-launch Highlined BETA are focusing on its acceleration. The re-launched scheme will focus on three key pillars, each of which is intended to speed up pathways to enable first investment for women angel investors.
These pillars are: first, blended education; second, investment opportunities supported by local experts and peer guidance; and, third, a curated network of women executives, investors and innovators.
Commenting on the revamped scheme, Executive Director of Female Funders and the chief operating officer of Highline BETA Lauren Robinson said: “There are a handful of incredibly talented women investors today—but we need more…We talk a lot about the growth of female entrepreneurship, and we see the tides starting to shift.”
However, a culture change is required to make this happen. Robinson adds: “Without representation on both sides of the table — among both entrepreneurs and investors — we won’t see real change.”
The Academy is central to the structural and cultural changes needed to help bring more female investors forwards. With this venture, those who sign-up to the Academy will begin an eight-week self-paced training program. The curriculum extends to the fundamentals of angel investing, like deconstructing the mechanics of a successful deal.
After the program is completed, Angel Academy members will have the opportunity to write their first investment cheque for startups and to co-invest alongside Highline BETA.
