CapitalT, a new female-led VC firm, launched its first fund of €40 million for European tech companies. Dutch founders Janneke Niessen and Eva de Mol are entrepreneurs and investors who want to identify overlooked founders. The firm uses its own data-driven model they believe removes common biases that determine which founders are met and funded, biases such as previous connections in the tech ecosystem, confidence, and physical appearance. While working on her PhD in economics, de Mol developed her own algorithmic tool for evaluating entrepreneurial teams, and this tool is now the basis of the firm’s approach. CapitalT also supports the #FundRight initiative, a coalition working to increase diversity in the Dutch ecosystem. As part of the firm’s commitment, each portfolio company must have an “inclusion rule” in its HR policies so that at least one woman or member of an underrepresented population is interviewed for every open executive position.
The fund saw support from eighteen investors, including the founders of four unicorn companies, such as TomTom, Booking and Adyen. Its first investments have gone to two Amsterdam-based businesses, edtech startup WizeNoze and HR technology startup TestGorilla.
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