Women VCs are on the rise. Based on the observation of Women.vc, there isn’t only an increased interest in female investors, there’s a demand for them. In this past year alone we’ve seen multi-billion dollar exits of women funded companies, an influx in female investors at corporate venture funds, and the first ever hired female investment partner by Sequoia Capital. (Renata George on “Women Investors who lead Startups to Success”, Medium)
Jilian Manus, Managing Partner at Structure Capital based in San Francisco, CA, joins us at 1776 Dubai to discuss “femtech” and investment.
About Jillian Manus:
Jillian Manus is a presently a Managing Partner of Structure VC, a Silicon Valley early-stage venture capital firm providing capital and brand strategy to tech companies focused on creating value in under utilized assets and excess capacity. Structure is the Architects of the Zero Waste Economy. Prior to SC, Jillian has had a multifaceted career as co-director of M & A for Credit Suisse in Zurich, Director of Development for Universal and Warner Bros Studios, TV agent for ICM, Associate Publisher of Upside Magazine. She is the founder of 3 companies, Global Goal Sports Management, Manus Media & Literary Agency and Broad Strategy; a brand acceleration and investment company.
She attended The University of Oxford and NYU where she served on the board of Trustees. Ms. Manus is a highly regarded public speaker, providing political and business commentary in both print and television, including Bloomberg News, Hardball and Fox News. Jillian sits on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards including: Duke Engage National, Hyp3r, Iggbo, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Communities in Schools, Stanford University Digital Health Advisory Board, and College Track. Jillian is also a Stanford University School of Medicine Board of Fellows member. Jillian serves as a co-host of “The Pitch,” a successful podcast out of The Silicon Valley which is the antithesis of Shark Tank.
She served seven years as Chair of The Women’s Conference where she joined Maria Shriver to create the largest women’s conference in the world; 15,700 women STRONG. As an active philanthropist, she created the Manus Family Foundation whose mission is “to create paths of safety and self-sufficiency for women and children.” The two primary levers of investment for her are education and health. Jillian was recently selected by the San Francisco Business Times as a 2016 honoree for the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business.