Ariella Vildan Young

HERMESA is a UK based angel syndicate investing in extraordinary female (co)founded start-ups. We are a community of operators who know what it takes to build successful start-ups and we invest smart money – capital and expertise – to help change the funding landscape for women founders.

Alma Angels is a diverse and active community with a bold mission: Generate $1 trillion in women-led wealth by 2050. Since 2020, we have brought together and trained over 500 angel investors who have invested into 200+ women (co)founders building tech or IP-rich ventures with global ambitions. These companies have gone on to raise more than £300m to date. Alma Angels is committed to training 10,000 angels and backing 10,000 women founders by 2035.

In the years since 2009, Web Summit has grown from a 150-person conference in Dublin to a global event series gathering more than 140,000 attendees every year from all over the world. We build incredible things, from technology and stages to relationships and experiences. Since 2009, weve grown our team to more than 340 people. At our headquarters in Dublin, Ireland – and in Portugal, Canada, Qatar, Brazil and many more locations around the world – incredible engineers, developers, producers, designers, marketers and salespeople come together to create unique global events. In Europe, North America, South America, Asia and the Middle East, we are builders of world-class global technology festivals. Our events take on the flavour of their surroundings, while still retaining the successful framework weve fine-tuned over the years. Web Summit events have become unrivalled global meeting places for the worlds most disruptive technology companies, and for those interested in how that disruption can transform their businesses and their lives. Help us build great things: https://websummit.com/careers

Investing in secondaries since inception in 2017, Alicorn Venture Partners has backed some of the most highly regarded names in Israeli and European tech. Alicorn invests in undervalued top tier companies at a later stage of growth. We leverage proprietary access to these companies through a deep rooted startup network. Secondary transactions enable us to optimise our entry and timing, hence maximising returns. Over the years, we have built extensive knowledge of, and experience within, the secondary market which continues to flourish in Israel and emerge in mainland Europe. In specific situations we will also invest in primary investment rounds. Our portfolio companies are almost exclusively B2B, with products in a range of deep technology thematics from cybersecurity to data architecture. By focusing on value and targeting growth stage companies with a bias for M&A exits, we inherently channel investment towards shorter investment horizons and higher returns.

VF partners with management to create new revenue horizons for businesses. We assist with idea generation, business planning, operational set up, mindset shift and capacity building. We also invest in early stage businesses and bring syndicates together on select projects.

Techstars helps founders scale their startups into world-changing businesses. Founded in 2006, Techstars is on a mission to invest in startups to enable more capital to flow to more entrepreneurs around the world in order to deliver exceptional returns to our investors. We do this by operating accelerator programs and venture capital funds, as well as by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to help build thriving startup communities. Our results show why Techstars is Better for Founders than any other global accelerator: On average, 74.5% of Techstars companies will raise money within 3 years of their program; 18.5% of Techstars portfolio companies have exited 5 years after their program and 31.1% after eight years. (PitchBook June 2023)

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of the world’s most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking to individuals and companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVBs parent company, First Citizens Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA) is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com. Please contact client service at https://www.svb.com/client-service/help-desk/ for all account questions. To ensure your information is secure, please do not include any personal account information in posts or messages. Please visit https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/ if you are interested in a career at SVB. Comments are moderated and will be removed if they are off-topic or abusive. Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, as well as the other divisions, subsidiaries, and affiliates of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (together, SVB), are U.S. financial institutions and provide products and services to non-U.S. clients on a cross-border basis from the United States of America. SVB is not licensed or regulated as a bank or any other type of financial institution outside of the United States of America. Please review our International Disclosures for more information: https://www.svb.com/international-disclosures/

HERMESA is a UK based angel syndicate investing in extraordinary female (co)founded start-ups. We are a community of operators who know what it takes to build successful start-ups and we invest smart money – capital and expertise – to help change the funding landscape for women founders.