Women investors as levers of change

In 1971, Mª Àngels Vallvé became the first woman stockbroker (Agente de Cambio y Bolsa) in Spain. More than 50 years later, the financial system she found when she arrived has changed a great deal, and yet it still decides in almost the same way who puts up the capital and where it goes. On 29 September that story opened Anima's first open gathering, in Barcelona, in conversation with Maite Fibla, GP at Ship2B Ventures, in front of a room full of women who are already changing that system from the inside.

Capital is already in women's hands

Women control 32% of global wealth, and are expected to reach 45% by 2030 (BCG). Even so, only 11% of the people who decide where venture capital goes are women. And the money follows the same pattern: 14% of global venture capital goes to founding teams with at least 1 woman, and barely 2% to all-women teams (Female Founders Fund).

The gap is not in capital. It is in who decides what is done with it.

From guardians to architects

For generations, women with wealth have been asked to protect it. To preserve, not to take risks, and to leave investment decisions in other hands. Being a guardian is a valuable role, and it is also a ceiling.

The lever is becoming architects, putting that wealth to work for the world we want and growing it in the process. Investing with purpose and with returns, without having to choose between the 2. Antonela Costa Varsi, Marta Ribot and Berta Segura shared how they took that step, each from a different starting point, in a panel moderated by Gemma Cernuda.

Why who invests matters

Whoever allocates the capital decides what gets funded. When there are more women at the investment table, more women founders get funded and more products designed for women get built. Health is the clearest example: only 1% of health research goes to conditions specific to women (World Economic Forum). Teams with women in leadership understand needs the rest of the market has overlooked, and that is also an investment opportunity.

The barriers have solutions

We see 3 barriers. Minimum tickets are designed for institutional investors and large fortunes. Dealflow moves through very male networks, and whoever is not in those conversations does not see the opportunities. And for decades women have been taught to protect wealth before investing it.

None of them is inevitable. Blanca Ochoa, Carles Florensa and Silvio Elias spoke from their own experience as impact investors in "Building with barriers", the panel I moderated: the barriers are solved by lowering the ticket, opening up the network and learning together, because women invest better as a tribe, alongside others who have already done it.

A morning of real change and concrete steps

We closed with the workshop "Mapping change", facilitated by Valentina Muñoz, where each participant named the challenges they see from their own experience and set concrete steps to act from their role. And with a toast, because what was created in that room was a space of trust and honest conversation about something we have left in the background for far too long: the power of our capital to build the world we want.

Anima

That is why we are building Anima, an investment community led by women from family offices, senior management and entrepreneurship. Its vehicle lowers the minimum ticket to invest directly in impact venture capital, with a gender lens and following the 2X Criteria. And its members have a say in how that lens is applied in the fund, not just access to events.

This is not about taking up a separate space. It is about making the table where capital is decided look more like the world it funds, and the men in the industry are part of that change too.

29 September was the beginning. Anima grows with people who bring capital, experience, a network or judgement, each from their own role. If that's you, we'd love to meet you.