Just 16% of general partners in Europe are women, according to one recent report — but the number of new female partners is ticking up by the year.
Sifted’s very own list of female VC partners in Europe, updated annually, continues to grow. It currently stands at 372 investors — and counting.
Below we profile 13 women investors below who became partners this year. Some were hired into the role and some were promoted internally. And some took matters into their own hands by founding funds themselves.
Sandra Malmberg - EQT Ventures
Malmberg was promoted to partner at Swedish multi-stage VC fund EQT Ventures in February this year. She joined the firm in 2020 as a venture lead, working her way up to principal and now partner. Malmberg focuses mostly on deeptech and climate tech and has worked on investments at EQT in companies like AI-powered learning platform Sana Labs and consumer hardware startup Nothing.
Bao-Y Van Cong — Target Global
Cong started out her VC career as a growth associate at pan-European VC Target Global in 2017. She worked her way up in the firm, becoming partner in January of this year. Cong focuses on software and consumer and has a particular interest in the future of work, AI and environmental, social and governance (ESG). She holds board seats at Palta, a platform making health and wellbeing apps, period tracking app Flo Health and employee upskilling solution Lepaya, among other companies.
Lina Chong — Target Global
Chong is also a recently promoted partner at Target Global. She joined the firm in 2018 and was promoted to partner in January this year. She focuses on B2B companies, and looks after portfolio investments such as corporate travel management company TravelPerk and Healthforce, an AI assistant automating daily repetitive tasks for hospital staff, doctors and nurses.
Stine Mølgaard Sørensen — Alliance VC
Sørensen was the cofounder of an AI-powered radiology startup, Radiobotics, a private equity investor in early-stage startups, and now is a partner at Nordic early-stage fund Alliance VC, which she joined in September 2023. Sørensen will be leading the firm’s investments in Denmark, where it plans to increase its focus. Alliance has backed companies like ArK Kapital, Xeneta and Oda.
Annelie Ajami — Anamcara
Ajami started her own solo GP fund in May 2021 which closed this year at $10.6m. The fund, called Anamcara, invests in early-stage B2B software startups and its investments include Irish hospitality management platform Nory and employee enablement platform Zavvy.
Prior to launching her own fund, Ajami worked as a venture partner at B&Y Venture Partners, an Abu Dhabi-based VC fund for early-stage tech companies.
Madeline Lawrence — Peak
Lawrence started out her career in VC in Amsterdam, where she helped to set up a pre-seed VC fund called Asif Ventures. She then joined Peak, a marketplace, platform and SaaS investor, in October 2019, and relocated to Berlin to open its first international office. She was promoted to partner at Peak in September this year, where she has worked with portfolio companies like Bling, a fintech helping children manage their spending, and identity resolution software provider Tilores.io, among others.
Felicia Nordgård — Peak
A fellow Peak investor, Nordgård joined the firm in November 2022 to head up the Nordics — and was similarly promoted to partner in September this year. She has a particular interest in anything related to impact, both social and environmental, which is also reflected in her investments to date. The ones disclosed are CarbonCloud, which helps brands calculate and reduce their carbon footprint, and DREM, which simplifies the deployment of heat pumps for residential properties.
Hillary Ball — Atomico
Previously an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, Ball began her career in VC as an associate at Atomico in 2017. She’s since worked her way up the ranks, becoming partner at the firm in January this year. Ball focuses on Atomico’s growth stage investing and has a particular interest in SaaS, consumer internet and marketplace companies. She sits on the board of Gympass, a corporate wellness benefit startup, and Framer, a no-code website builder.
Gloria Bäuerlein — Puzzle Ventures
Bäuerlein worked as a principal at VC firm Index, before taking senior operational roles at healthtech giant Kry and HR tech Back, while angel investing on the side. In March this year, Bäuerlein announced that she had closed a solo GP fund of €21.5m, called Puzzle Ventures, which ended up being twice the size she originally aimed for (no biggy.) She told Sifted at the time that, even as a solo GP, she wants to keep the image of being a super angel.
Sanne de Jongh — Oxford Science Enterprises
In February this year, de Jongh became partner at Oxford Science Enterprises, an early-stage VC firm investing in life sciences, AI and software and deeptech. It isn’t her first gig: she previously worked as an investment manager at healthcare fund Gilde Healthcare and at food and agriculture VC Anterra Capital. Now, at Oxford Science Enterprises, she focuses on investments in life sciences and sits on the board of Sitryx Therapeutics, which develops disease-modifying therapeutics in immuno-oncology and immuno-inflammation, among other companies.
Evelina Anttila — Wellstreet
Anttila nabbed the position of managing partner of Swedish early-stage firm Wellstreet in February this year after working as partner and head of transactions at the firm for a year and a half. She also cofounded a legal tech startup, Justic, in December 2020 and works as an advisor to AI Sweden, the country’s national centre for applied AI.
Olivia Mark — Dastore
Mark is an operator turned VC, having spent 20 years in various roles across the French B2B and B2C retail sectors.
In February, Mark was hired as a partner to manage Dastore, a Carrefour-backed €80bn fund operated by Daphni, a Paris-based VC investing in early-stage startups. At Dastore, Mark focuses on companies from pre-seed to Series B in supply chain, data, fintech and impact.
Anna Fredrixon — Norrsken Launcher
Fredrixon is the founding partner of Norrsken Launcher, a Swedish company builder which is raising a €100m impact fund, which will invest in 10 startups wanting to commercialise. She previously worked as chief HR officer at two Swedish unicorns: Kry and Truecaller.
