At a Silicon Hills event in January 2024 in Austin Texas, NEF founder and managing partner Nilima Achwal spoke to 100 women founders and investors about the future of venture capital – as well as Austin’s role in the new decentralized, values-driven tech economy.
Set in the wooded Zilker Lodge, there was a 99% female audience, almost all of whom were founders and investors, with more than a handful of founders who had even had exits, sitting in the room.
She opened with some pertinent statistics around the extreme inequity in the venture capital industry, like that female VCs received only 3.3% of all capital invested by LPs in 2020 (which she said was part of the market collapse of 2023).
Then, she dove into the fact that 3/4 of all women-led funds were started in the last five years – which she said meant that we are at the precipice of a huge demographic shift of who gets to control capital and make investment decisions, for the benefit of humanity.
She also talked about 2020 being "the straw that broke the camel’s back," when entire fundraises were done over Zoom, displacing the perceived hegemony of Sandhill Road.
"We are indeed between two systems, and these trenches are the most painful – but we’re on our way to a systems change in venture that will allow us to truly take back our power, and ultimately shift our industries in a way that can center values, humans, and Earth."