In fall 2020, WIN (Women Investor Network) successfully launched and carried out its first Startup Investment Training Program with the ambition of promoting female investment and diversifying the venture capital environment in Norway. Our 7-sessions Program for women included the collaboration of 15 mentors, 5 startups, and a number of remarkable field experts like Kvale Law Firm, Startup Norway, Obos, Boitano, and Astia Angels. Through seminars, lectures, and workshops, 24 investors-in-training covered the essential aspects of angel investment. Although some of them had previous investment experience, they gained confidence, explored the investment and startup environments, and built relationships with like-minded women and entrepreneurs.
The investors-in-training, which were Norwegian and international women, learned about financial concepts, due diligence of early-stage companies, and most importantly, how to identify good investment opportunities. Also, the entrepreneurs got to expand their network with potential investors, advisors, and customers.
WIN exists as a proposed solution to the systemic gender imbalance in entrepreneurship and investments -the main wealth-generating activities- as Elizabeth Davis so eloquently explains in her article, The Gender Wealth Gap: Why we need more women to invest and to invest in more women. With our Program, we confirmed that when women master the main concepts of early-stage investments, get access to good investment opportunities, and have a network to co-invest with, they step forward, ready to deploy their capital and expertise.
We experienced this first-hand. At the end of the Program, 12 investors-in-training invested together in 3 companies, a total of approximately USD $240.000 (2 Million NOK).
This is huge: this investment’s impact is much larger than its monetary value because this was the first investment for some of the ladies.
Seeing the impact we’re achieving, we are ready to do it all again! In Spring 2021, we aim to reach women beyond our city limits and make the initiative more impactful by making our Startup-Investment Program digital. The main objective is the same, to create a robust female community promoting learning, investing, and connecting female investors and founders.
We believe that our mission is more important now than ever, given the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on entrepreneurs and business owners. We are committed to continuing training, inspiring, and connecting female capital with diverse teams building future profitable companies.
Want to learn more about our Program? get in touch at hello@winnetwork.eu We’d love to hear from you.