Women’s History Month, join VCFamilia at SXSW & 2 funding opportunities 💪🏽

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LaFamilia Newsletter
03 Mar • Read in: 8 minutes

As we head into Women’s History Month, at VCFamilia, we’re celebrating our community being so close to gender parity with our membership at 45% women! 🎉

Compared to VC, which typically has women at around ~33%, we’re excited to be the changemakers through intentional and inclusive community building. Our powerhouse Latine women members are shaking up the venture capital landscape, from raising the largest Latina-led firms in the world to even being the first women investor in their firm's history. We’re so excited to have led the community with intentionality and know that we Latines continue to push the ball forward in every industry.

Stay tuned to our Twitter & Linkedin as we highlight more of the amazing women in our community this month!

Last week, in honor of Black History Month, we partnered with FounderFamilia and BLCK VC to host an Intersectionality Chat focused on the Black Latine experience. With the conversation led by Blair Hirst (Founder of Digital Health Review) and Alicia Cepeda Maule (Co-Founder & CEO of givepact), our attendees discussed how identities shape and influence people’s experiences in tech. We loved the energy and warmth in the room, and are so glad we can provide the space and platform for such timely conversations. As one attendee said, “There wasn't enough time. This could have gone on for four hours."

On Wednesday, we hosted a casual happy hour in SF which was an awesome opportunity to bring our community of VCs and founders together in an informal setting. We always love meeting our new members in person ❤️Shoutout to Carolina Galdiz for catalyzing it!

📣 Welcoming Andrea Zapata to La Familia

VCFamilia & Founder Familia have grown significantly since each community’s inception. Since Jan 2021, VCFamilia has grown to 340 global members who identify as Latine, have access to dealflow & capital, and are eager to pay it forward to the next generation. The strength of normalizing the Latine experience in venture resonated with the community at large and in July 2022 Founder Familia was founded to support Latine venture-backed founders on their entrepreneurial journey. Founder Familia in 6 months already supports 350 members with cumulative valuations totaling $5 billion.

To leverage this sustained momentum and create opportunities for more growth, we made our first full-time hire – Andrea Zapata is our new Head of Programming!

Andrea is an incredible talent with a fierce passion for supporting the Latine community for both founders and funders. Originally from Mexico and Nicaragua heritage, Andrea was born in Miami and grew up in Potomac, Maryland before moving to Boston for higher education. Graduating Magna Cum Laude from Babson College with a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship and Retail & Supply Chain Management, Andrea has a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem through her past experiences and unique perspective. She balances her passion for financial & non-profit excellence with her mission driven focus to make an impact on her community.

Learn more about her story here & reach out to [email protected] to connect with her!

💰 Funding Opportunities: Spread the Word

Scale your business with LBAN

LBAN’s Business Scaling program is a 9-week hybrid program during which participants will spend two weekends at the Stanford Graduate School of Business with Stanford faculty, engaged in lectures, workshops, networking, and opportunities to redefine their growth mindset. In addition to the in-person time at Stanford, the program includes 8 weeks of online curriculum with a weekly live webinar every Wednesday.

Through the program, participants will have an experienced mentor to challenge, support, and help them apply the curriculum to their business. Participants will be immersed in a network of Latino business leaders from across the country, learn about funding and capital options, financial management, and more. Apply here.

AWS Impact Accelerator for Latino Founders

Mark your calendars! 🗓

Applications for the #AWSImpactAccelerator for Latino founders open on March 6, 2023.

AWS Impact Accelerator supports Black, Latino, Women, and LGBTQIA+ founders with equitable access to training, mentorship, and resources, including $225,000 in cash grants and AWS credits. Over the course of 8-weeks, 20 startups accelerate growth by developing their ventures alongside AWS technology experts, investors, and partners—all at zero cost and for zero equity.

AWS is hosting virtual and in person information sessions to share information and answer questions about the program. Learn more & apply here.

📅 Upcoming Events

We’re gearing up for SXSW and have some fun events planned including

  • 3/12 - VCFamilia & FounderFamilia’s inaugural Sunday Midday Mixer! ​Join us for the darty of the year from 11-1pm CT - a celebration with great conversation, fun beats and awesome people 🎉 Grateful to SVB, Republic, and Mercury for the support in making this event come to life! RSVP here.

  • 3/13 - Building Wellness and Wealth @SXSW, a half-day founder event for underrepresented founders hosted in partnership with Visible Hands, WeWork, and SVB. This event offers authentic community-building opportunities, panels, and talks like “Reducing Founder Burnout” and activities designed with founder well-being and culture in mind. Learn more and register here.

  • 3/13 - Following the half-day founder event, Visible Hands is also hosting a Happy & Well Hour filled with music, networking, wellness beverages, and more! Founders, investors, operators & tech community friends are all welcome. Sign up here.

👩🏾‍💻10 VC Opportunities

Partner Spotlight: SVB

SVB’s Startup Banking is a team of former founders, operators, and investors passionate about supporting founders on their path to success. Beyond banking, we work with early-stage pre-seed and Series A startups to help them navigate the challenges of funding and scaling from Day 1.

While there are many Startup Banking teams at SVB, the New & Strategic Channels team is specifically focused on working with ecosystem partners like Founder Familia and VCFamilia to help close the access and opportunity gap for underrepresented founders. Connect with them here.