Amsterdam-based Borski Fund has become the first venture capital fund to receive the nod (and financial backing) from Visa Foundation as part of its Equitable Access Initiative, a five-year, $200 million strategic commitment to support gender-diverse and inclusive small businesses around the world in accessing capital.
Named after Johanna Borski, a prominent 19th-century Dutch investor who notably was the first woman to buy shares in De Nederlandsche Bank, the fund that bears her name strives to continue this legacy by shifting the focus of gender lens investing from niche, to the mainstream, while reducing the gender gap in access to capital in the process.
Founded in October 2019 by Simone Brummelhuis and Laura Rooseboom, Borski Fund’s investment thesis proposes a triple effect on the status quo, aiming to promote inclusive innovation, inclusive economic growth, and the empowerment of female leadership.
All companies in Borski’s portfolio are founded or co-founded by female tech entrepreneurs, many with a data and AI-driven approach toward innovation.
A heavy emphasis is placed on investments in femtech and the advocation of sustainability, a notion Borski believes enables important innovations to reach the market, ultimately creating positive spillovers on the women that the products are designed for.
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