Investor Spotlight: Heather Henyon (Mindshift Capital)
Meet Heather Henyon
Firm:
Location:
Dubai
How long have you been investing?
Almost 10 years
Firm Description:
Mindshift Capital is a gender-lens venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage technology companies with exceptional female leaders delivering local solutions to global problems. Led by an experienced team of international angel investors and entrepreneurs with a strong track record of investing in over 200 companies, the fund is focused on the companies serving today’s new world consumer and the Rise of the Zillenial (GenZ/Millenial), where different values result in shifts in consumer behavior, especially in foodtech where COVID-19 has significantly accelerated disruption. Incorporating a gender lens, Mindshift Capital enables investors to access attractive early-stage investments in high-growth sectors across the globe while backing exceptional female founders.
Location:
Dubai
How long have you been investing?
Almost 10 years
What led you to where you are today?
I have lived in the Middle East for 15 years after spending my year abroad studying at university in Cairo. I fell in love with the region and the people. Since then, I started a microfinance company targeting female microentrepreneurs backed by a Saudi family office based in Dubai. As I became more involved in mentoring women founders, I realized that there were very few female angel investors in the region. I started WAIN (Women’s Angel Investor Network) in 2014 to encourage women to invest in women-led start-ups in the region. From there I became more involved with setting up new angel groups in the US, Dubai, and Europe and have now invested in over 100 early-stage tech companies. I realized that women could raise a seed round but struggled with the institutional venture capital round. Female founders receive 2% of the capital but are the fastest growing segment of the market globally. This is what we hope to change at Mindshift Capital – by changing one side of the table, we change the other.
What do you look for in companies and founders?
We focus on investing in post-seed, early-stage women-led companies with scalable technology, exceptional leadership, and high-growth potential.
What can you help the VEGPRENEUR community with?
Connecting the community with extraordinary female founders and their teams in the global foodtech space.
How can the VEGPRENEUR community help you?
Introduce us to stellar female-led businesses and their teams as well as like-minded investors who want to invest in our fund and receive superior returns.
Fun fact about you:
I have been a vegetarian since I was 12 because of animal rights concerns and am raising my two sons (ages 12 and 9) as vegetarians! I was also an early investor in Beyond Meat.
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