Leveraging Venture Investing for Impact with Gaby Darbyshire

Women currently own 52% of wealth but receive only 2% of venture funding, despite returning 34% more to investors. It’s our mission here at How Women Lead to lift each other up in every way we can, including funding women startups and business owners looking for funding. Because when we invest in our values and put our money into what we believe in, everyone wins. This week’s episode 135 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about leveraging venture investing for impact! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Gaby Darbyshire is sharing the importance of having a diverse investment portfolio and actionable steps you can take right now to leverage your investments to also make more philanthropic donations. 

This episode was created in partnership with the Nasdaq Foundation. Together, we are working to educate, inspire, and engage women from diverse backgrounds on venture investing and entrepreneurship. Did you know that only 2% of venture funding goes to women-led companies? Together, we are working to show that women are the new face of venture investing.

Gaby Darbyshire is a global executive and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience building tech and media businesses in London, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.  In her current role as General Partner at Dangerous Ventures, an early-stage VC fund, Gaby is focused on investing in solutions to the world’s most pressing climate challenges, a lifetime interest that dates back to building an electric car when she was 16 years old. Born in Beirut and raised in London, Gaby began her career as a barrister, practicing environmental and criminal law and working pro bono on death row appeals. After leaving the Bar, she spent several years as a management consultant, developing strategies in the tech, utilities, financial services and pharmaceutical industries.

Some of the talking points Julie and Gaby go over in this episode include:

• The benefits of investing in climate solutions.
• The role of philanthropy in complementing for-profit investments.
• How being a generalist with a wide array of interests benefits you in investing.
• Closing the wealth gap by teaching women to start investing early.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

CONNECT WITH GABY DARBYSHIRE:

LinkedIn

X (formerly Twitter)

Dangerous Ventures

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Chapters

• 0:00 Leveraging Venture Investing for Impact with Gaby Darbyshire
• 5:08 The importance of building thought leadership networks and standing in one's power.
• 7:34 Challenges women face in venture investing, such as the lack of early funding for women-led businesses and the wealth gap.
• 11:43 The potential for climate companies to become significant financial opportunities.
• 17:09 The benefits of venture funds in providing a diverse portfolio and spreading potential gains over a long period.
• 23:36 How LPs can help with contacts and support companies, fostering a sense of pride and involvement.
• 27:32 The importance of being informed and aligning investments with personal values and interests.