During Women’s History Month, NAIC proudly recognizes the economic contributions of our 41 Women-Owned member firms on the U.S. and global economy. With more than $72.6 B in collective AUM and 184 deals completed in 2024, these Women-Owned firms are driving innovation and economic growth and are shaping the asset management industry.
41
Women-Owned member firms
$72.6 B
in collective AUM
184
deals completed in 2024
These firms support more than 288,000 jobs in their portfolio companies and fuel the industries that power our economy, including technology, healthcare, financial services, media, and infrastructure. They are also creating a more equitable economic landscape by empowering underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Here are a few visionary female founders in NAIC’s network who are making a powerful impact in alternative investments, leading investment strategies, driving change, and shaping the future of private equity, venture capital, and more.
Even before Grammy-winning music artist Nelly agreed to sell certain recorded assets to HarbourView Equity Partners in 2023, it was clear there was a new player in the content business. Since launching in 2021, HarbourView has been highly acquisitive, buying recorded assets from “Despacito” songwriter Luis Fonsi, hip-hop/R&B group Full Force, country star Kane Brown, rapper/singer Wiz Khalifa, R&B artist Jeremih, and singer-songwriter Blackbear, among others.
The multi-strategy, global investment firm focused on investment opportunities in the entertainment and media space has closed more than 60 transactions in the music space to date. Thanks to an approximate $500 million debt deal from KKR and other investors, HarbourView plans to keep acquiring assets that fit its requirements and monetize them whenever a song in its catalog is played on a music streaming service, piped in at a restaurant or bar, or used in a film or movie trailer.
As Founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares puts it, “Content is queen. We are laser-focused on taking a very data-driven and audience-level approach to what we’re building.” HarbourView applies specific analytics to diligence potential investments and optimize existing assets, examining where the audience for a particular asset is and where growth may come from. “We’ve built our own data platform to synthesize and analyze that data and then drive to decisions,” says Soares. “Then we use that same system to ensure the portfolio construction leads to the return threshold we’re trying to accomplish.” HarbourView takes a bottom-up approach to building a diversified pool of assets resistant to broad economic cycles and has forecastable, durable income streams.
Yasmine Lacaillade wanted to set an example for her daughters and show them they can create their own impact in the world. She founded Sinefine in 2022, to build out a network of women-owned VC firms and establish it as an outperforming asset class that adds value to institutional portfolios
“Women have a proclivity to invest in different markets than men do. They look at companies differently, and that means that from a portfolio construction perspective too. That’s really important from a diversification output perspective because it enriches the LPs’ existing portfolios.”, says Lacaillade.
Sinefine’s investment thesis contends that most data shows that women outperform their male peers in the industry despite limited resources. However, most women-owned venture firms have assets that fall below many allocators’ minimum AUM thresholds.
According to the Harvard Kennedy School, women make up approximately 11% investing partners at VC firms, and only around 13% of venture capital dollars go to startups with a woman on the founding team. Sinefine looks to address this issue and narrow the capital allocation disparity between female and male VCs.
Founded in 2022, New Majority Capital is an impact investment firm that aims to narrow persistent wealth disparities by creating ownership access for underrepresented entrepreneurs. The firm was founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Babson College classmates, Allegra Stennett, Havell Rodrigues, Kris Schumacher, and Darryl Lindie, who have a shared goal of addressing economic inequality in the United States.
New Majority’s innovative approach integrates an investment fund, an accelerator, and specialized training programs to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs to acquire and scale businesses effectively.
The firm is raising a private equity fund to work with entrepreneurs to identify buyout opportunities with lower middle market companies. The fund implements a progressive equity model, allowing entrepreneurs to gain additional equity in the companies over time, contingent on meeting specific performance metrics. Additionally, New Majority mandates that any company it invests in has a minimum 10% profit share with its employees. This approach ensures that entrepreneurs can build wealth through their ventures, ultimately aiming to address and reduce wealth gaps. The structure allows employees to participate in the upside of these companies in real-time rather than waiting for retirement or other long-term gains.
SC Moatti’s journey from studying electrical engineering in France to investing in the heart of Silicon Valley’s tech scene was fueled by a passion for operating on the business side of technology and leveraging her experience in product development in the venture capital space. Jennifer Vancini, a Midwestern native with deep investing experience, also understands that products drive business value. With a shared vision for delivering exceptional returns in the venture capital space, the two co-founded Mighty Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s few woman-owned venture capital firms.
Now deploying capital out of its third fund, San Francisco-based Mighty Capital targets companies in B2B Enterprise SaaS, Security, Health AI, Fintech, Blockchain, Cloud, and other technology fields. With more than 30 investments completed, the duo is poised for aggressive growth, looking to break the billion-dollar mark in AUM in the next decade while continuing to return value to investors.
The firm prioritizes product-first businesses and supports its portfolio companies by helping them accelerate sales growth. Mighty Capital has set ambitious goals for growth, with Moatti describing the firm as “ruthlessly ambitious” in its pursuit of increasing AUM over the next decade. In the meantime, the duo will continue to execute on Mighty Capital’s thesis that product management will soon be the most critical function in businesses worldwide.