A new film called Show Her The Money begins with a surprising detail. Less than two percent of venture capital goes to companies started by women.
“If you think about all the technology companies that we know about today, they were all funded by venture capitalists early on," says one film participant. "Historically women have been shut out of the venture capital world. It has been on purpose. Money is power, and this is a very lucrative industry. I was raised to believe that talking about money was in bad taste. Men always talked about it. Someone needs to do something about this.”
Kate Byrne agreed, and that statistic haunted her.
“Think of the ideas and the products and more import the solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems that we’re missing out on.”
The Charlottesville woman had grown up in in Northern California – a witness to the rise of personal computers, the dot-com boom and the role played by venture capital. While some of her friends knew little about money, her mom made sure she was educated.
“She just drilled in my head – Katie, volunteering is lovely, but make money, because money gives you choices,” Byrne recalls.
And she liked the idea of angel investors – people who would help start companies because they believed in the mission.
“More often than not they do have a purpose-driven aspect to them. It’s extraordinary patient capital, and you really will see an environmental impact that’s positive, a social impact that’s positive and then governance that will be truly intentional. Why would you not take care of people, planet which will eventually give you profit?”
And investors are often willing to lend more than money – helping new companies with their advice and expertise.
“Give them access to places and platforms and events and speaking engagements that they might not otherwise have access to – other countries or similar industries from which they could learn?" Byrne explains.
Here in Virginia, she was not alone. This state has many networks of angel investors.
“Citrine Angel from the north, we’ve got our sisters and brothers down there in Richmond through Sandbox and others. Hampton Roads has helped out, Charlottesville Angel Network, Cav Angel Network, and then we’ve also got support from Venture Central, a non-profit whose whole effort is really to try and make Central Virginia a thriving ecosystem.”
So she helped to start a coalition called Ascending Angels to educate female angel investors and founders.
“People feel safe or comfortable asking a dumb question or admitting they don’t know. Everybody is very open and supportive. Companies come in and pitch. There’s a whole conversation afterwards, and at the 2025 TomTom Festival that’s going to be happening in Charlottesville April 16-20, we will be doing an Ascending Angels Women’s Summit.”
And the group will show that film – Show Her The Money – tonight at 5 in Charlottesville’s CODE Building – right across from our bureau on Water Street. Admission is free through Eventbrite.com and will be followed b y a panel discussion.
