Webinar
Why Smart Money is Backing Female Founders
Join Alumni Ventures’ Laura Rippy and Sophia Zhao for an engaging discussion on investing in women-founded companies and the compelling opportunity they represent in today’s venture landscape.
Learn how women-led startups are outperforming their peers and why seasoned investors are increasingly focused on this high-potential category. Laura and Sophia will explore the data behind women founders’ success, the unique market opportunities they’re addressing, and how Alumni Ventures’ Women Founders Fund identifies and backs exceptional female entrepreneurs.
This session will cover the investment thesis driving the Women Founders Fund, highlight portfolio companies making meaningful impact across sectors, and discuss why gender-diverse founding teams often deliver superior returns. You’ll gain insight into how we source, evaluate, and support women-led ventures, and what makes this investment approach both financially compelling and strategically important.
Whether you’re a current investor or exploring opportunities in venture capital, this webinar will offer valuable perspective on a growing segment of the innovation economy. Reserve your seat today to learn why backing the next generation of category-defining companies led by women is both an impact-driven and financially sound investment strategy.
Want to access our Women’s Syndicate startup deals to see, evaluate, and optionally invest? No cost, no commitment.
Why Attend?
- HomeDiscover why women-founded companies represent a compelling investment opportunity with strong performance data
- HomeLearn how Alumni Ventures identifies and evaluates exceptional women-led startups across multiple sectors
- HomeGain insight into the Women Founders Fund's portfolio strategy and approach to supporting female entrepreneurs
Alumni Ventures is America’s largest venture capital firm for individual investors.
About your presenters
Laura Rippy is a Managing Partner and Board Member at Alumni Ventures. She runs the Harvard-focused fund (The Yard Ventures), the Dartmouth-focused fund (Green D Ventures), the Women’s Fund at Alumni Ventures, and our US Strategic Tech fund. Alumni Ventures is “America’s Largest Venture Firm for Individuals” with $1.5B raised, and 1500 portfolio companies. AV is one of the top 3 most active venture capital firms globally, per Pitchbook 2018-24. Previously, Laura was a serial CEO, Chairman, Board Member, Advisor, and Executive in high-technology companies including Microsoft. Business Insider ranked Laura in the Best Early Stage Investors of 2024 and 2025. Laura Rippy holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB in Government from Dartmouth College.
Sophia brings a wealth of experience in capital advisory, corporate development, and operational optimization, establishing impactful collaborations with CXOs and Founders. With a diverse industry exposure encompassing cloud computing, mining and minerals, consumer goods, and Web3, Sophia has been at the forefront of transformative technologies. Since 2018, she has been immersed in the crypto universe, working at Galaxy Digital, Huobi US, and Crypto.com. In these roles, Sophia engaged with startups and institutional clients on capital raising and trading across the Americas, EU, and Asia regions.
Actively fostering innovation and mentorship, Sophia serves as a mentor and judge at prestigious institutions such as Yale’s Tsai City for Innovation, Berkeley’s Blockchain Xcelerator, Techstars, and Layer 1 protocols, including Ethereum, Algorand, and Solana. She maintains close ties with the blockchain communities at Stanford and Yale.
Driven by a passion for shaping the future through frontier technologies, Sophia is currently supporting AI data and applications deals within her team. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, an MBA from the University of British Columbia, and an MAM from the Yale School of Management.