#25: How technology helps investors in search of startups - Penny Schiffer

Venturing Women

Imagine you are invited to give a talk at Stanford about your work as an investor. Excited, you board a plane to cross the Atlantic. And a conversation with a seat neighbour on that flight changes your whole life trajectory. You are now adamant about building your own business.

That’s exactly what happened to Penny Schiffer, CEO & Co-Founder of Raized.ai. After 10 years in venture capital, Penny decided to launch a startup to make this industry more intelligent. A psychology major, she had to ‘go back to the roots’ and re-discover her technical background.

Topics we cover:

• What if your employees tell you, ‘You’ll never understand how it works, don’t even try?’
• If you’re a founder, what should you know about how investors and algorithms assess your startup?
• What should you do or avoid doing to increase your chances for a successful fundraising round?
• Will machines replace humans in the investing process?
• And finally, how algorithms can increase chances for underrepresented founders?

About Penny Schiffer:

Penny is on a mission to transform startup investment with artificial intelligence, to make it more efficient and fair, and generate higher returns. Before Penny launched Raized.ai, she worked in corporate innovation and as a strategy consultant at Accenture. Penny got into programming at the age of ten but only made the step into the tech industry later. She was awarded “Seed 10 - the Best of Europe's Female Early-Stage Investors” by Business Insider in 2022. Penny is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
About Darya Kamkalova:

Darya is a data industry professional, a startup mentor, a co-founder of Manifest Taproom (a craft beer bar in Berlin), and a speaker. She is committed to narrowing the gender investment gap for female founders and diverse teams. Darya is based in Berlin, Germany.