This year, the award went to Simone Brummelhuis, a Dutch venture capital investor, founding partner & fund director of Borski Fund, a VC fund investing in technology leaders and diversity. The fund aims to reduce the diversity gap in start-up investments by giving diverse teams a fair chance in the VC world.
Simone has been elected out of 18 finalists, that come from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Ute Günther, a board member of the BAND, added:
“This year’s award winner is particularly distinguished by the fact that she not only invests in start-ups herself, but also encourages other women to become active in this seemingly male domain”
Source: EU-Startups
An Encouraging Successful Female Business Angel
Simone is also the founder of the female investor network “The Next Woman”. The organization contains 75 female angel investors that finance women-led businesses. The main goal of “The Next Woman” is to support female entrepreneurs from the very start until the million-dollar valuation. As a founding partner, Simone Brummelhuis pursues the same goal and invest in such businesses from the Borski fund, where she has the role of the director. The fund supports diverse teams to reduce the current gap in startup investments for minority groups.
Simone’s advice to all founders:
“You can do everything alone, but great things are achieved together.”
Lurdes Gramaxo –
Female Business Angel of the Year 2020
Ute Günther pointed out:
“The fact that a Portuguese woman is winner of the award, shows that female angels are advancing across the continent into a domain believed to be male and are successfully investing”
Currently, Lurdes Gramaxo is a partner at Bynd Venture Capital and a member of the Board of Directors of Associação Portuguesa Business Angels, which has similar goals with the BAND, but regarding Portugal.
An Inspiration for Female Business Angels in Portugal and Spain
As a partner of Bynd Venture Capital, Lurdes has a portfolio with more than 30 active investments. She focuses on the funding of seed and early-stage startups in the sustainability and IT industries. The countries of her main interest are Portugal and Spain.
As a member of the Board of Directors of Associação Portuguesa Business Angels, Lurdes strives for the development of “framework conditions” for European and Portuguese business angels.
“I am very honored to receive this award. It is not only a wonderful recognition for the work done so far, but above all a great motivation to continue contributing to the growth of the ecosystem in Portugal and Spain and at the same time to promote the participation of women in entrepreneurial roles, both as investors and as founders” said Lurdes Gramaxo accepting the award in 2020.
Source: Forbes Portugal
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