Funded Female Founders is for founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem supporters who are driving the future of innovation and funding.
After drawing over 125+ attendees at our last event in Menlo Park, Funded Female Founders is coming to San Francisco on July 16th, 2025 at Canopy San Francisco – Jackson Square.
Hosted by Startup Grind Silicon Valley Chapter & Superconnected, this event brings together founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem supporters who are actively scaling companies, investing in innovation, and building communities that champion women in leadership.
We will feature two (!!) dynamic panel discussions - a YC female founder panel where the ladies will share their journey, challenges, and key insights for succeeding at YC.
Following this, gain perspective on what early-stage VC investors look for as we dive into a panel with leading female venture capitalists from some of Silicon Valley's most active early-stage funds - Unusual Ventures, BDev Ventures & Boost VC as we dive into what makes a startup fundable in today’s market.
Expect candid conversations with female founders and VCs, high-impact networking, and thoughtful programming designed to foster real connections. General admission attendees will receive branded swag, while VIP guests will receive exclusive gift bags curated for startup leaders.
Agenda:
5:15 PM – 6:00 PM | Check-In & Welcome Reception - Guest arrivals, wine, and light bites, visit sponsor tables, and enjoy photo ops
5:50 PM – 6:00 PM | Opening Remarks
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM | Panel 1: What it takes to graduate from YC as a female founder + Q&A
Deepali Jain - Assembly (YC W24) - Assembly helps B2B startups create magical customer experiences by unifying their post-sale customer data, proactively identifying churn risk, and uncovering expansion opportunities.
Caitlin Leksana - Fazeshift (YC S24) - Fazeshift is the AI agent for Accounts Receivable. We work with companies ranging from fast-growing startups, to thousand-person companies to automate sensitive and complex A/R workflows. Our team comes from best-in-class institutions like Harvard Business School, MIT, Stanford, and more. Backed by Y Combinator and Gradient (Google's AI fund) Fazeshift is redefining the future of AI-powered finance.
Komal Ahman - Copia (YC W16) - From one location to thousands, from produce to pizza to paper towels, Copia are the Donation Engine for your business.
Niki Kohkale - Fountain9 (YC W21) - Offers predictive inventory planning and optimization software for e-commerce, DTC and retail companies and uses AI to accurately predict future inventory imbalances which lead to out of stock situations or wastage, and also recommends best ways of minimizing their impact.
Moderated by AJ Thomas - Good Trouble Ventures - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the technology that powers the Future of Entertainment, Creativity, and Digital Transformation.
6:40 PM – 6:45 PM | Break - Take a few minutes to reset, mingle, and refill your glass
7:00 PM – 7:30 PM | Panel 2: What Investors Look for in Women-Led Startups + Q&A
Emily Yu - Boost VC is an early stage venture capital firm with $250m AUM in San Mateo, CA founded by Adam Draper & Brayton Williams. They lead Pre-Seed rounds for Deep Tech (aerospace, bio, AI, robotics, crypto, VR, Sci-Fi)
Keshia Theobald-van Gent - BDev Ventures is a VC Fund investing in fast-growing post-revenue B2B software companies, from Seed to Series B, as a minority investor with checks up to 3M USD.
Niamh O'Donnell - Unusual Ventures lead seed rounds in enterprise AI software startups. We built a hands-on engagement model that gives technical founders the best odds of finding product-market fit.
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Open Networking - Connect with speakers, investors, sponsors, and fellow founders. Enjoy final bites, drinks, and new conversations.
🔥 Why Attend this event?
• Tactical Fundraising Advice from both founders and investors who’ve successfully raised and deployed capital
• Live Panels & Discussions designed to surface what really matters in today’s funding landscape
• High-Quality Networking with VCs, angels, and other growth-stage founders who are scaling serious companies
• VIP Access to attendee contact lists so you can follow up and build lasting relationships. Early access to networking with Startup Grind and Superconnected.
• Community-Led that go deeper than a standard pitch or panel
Agenda
---
Speakers
Niamh O'Donnell - Unusual Ventures (Director of Programs)
Niamh O'Donnell is an entrepreneurial and dynamic venture capital professional with experience across four funds and an MSc from The University of Notre Dame. She currently serves as the Director of Programs at Unusual Ventures, a leading early-stage firm managing over $1B. Niamh curates tailored programming and resources to help founders thrive, focusing on investments in Data Infrastructure,…
Emily Yu - Boost VC (Investor)
Boost VC is an early stage venture capital firm with $250m AUM in San Mateo, CA founded by Adam Draper & Brayton Williams. We lead Pre-Seed rounds for Deep Tech (aerospace, bio, AI, robotics, crypto, VR, Sci-Fi).
Boost VC is the most active Deep Tech investor on the planet. We average one deal per week.We invest into emerging and frontier categories on the edges of the map. Fo…
Keshia Theobald-van Gent - BDev Ventures (Partner)
Accomplished executive with deep experience in innovation, strategy, and stakeholder engagement. Proven ability to lead high-performing teams, drive operational excellence, and improve startup outcomes across sectors and regions.
As a Partner at BDev Ventures, Keshia leads sourcing and portfolio operations, managing both strategic and operational aspects of the fund. She previously found…
Panelists
Deepali Jain - Assembly (YC W24) (Co-Founder)
Deepali is the co-founder of Assembly, a customer success platform that centralizes post-sale processes across onboarding, support, and account management. Before Assembly, she was a software engineer at Convoy, working on the carrier network efficiency team, and at JP Morgan on the loans banking team. At UC Berkeley, she studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and has been buildin…
Caitlin Leksana - Fazeshift (YC S24) (Co-Founder & CEO)
Caitlin Leksana is the Co-Founder & CEO of Fazeshift, a VC-backed tech startup based in San Francisco building AI agents for Accounts Receivable, backed by Y Combinator and Gradient (Google's AI fund). Prior to Fazeshift, Caitlin got her MBA from Harvard Business School. Before that, she was at BCG advising Fortune 500 CFO's on business strategy.
Komal Ahmad - Copia (YC W16) (Founder)
As Founder of Copia, Komal and her team intelligently solved the complex logistics associated with the redistribution of highly perishable surplus food from businesses, commercial kitchens, and events to nonprofits in need. Copia’s proprietary technology and turn-key logistics solution dramatically and scalably reduces food waste and ends hunger across North America.
Copia has successfu…
Niki Khokale - Fountain9 (acquired by Rappi) (YC W21) (CEO & Co-Founder)
Cofounded an award-winning Supply Chain SaaS product- AI based inventory planning
Led successful acquisition of Fountain9 by Rappi, a $5B pre-IPO stage company Led team of 40 and headed product strategy, launch, UX, customer success and GTMEmpowering 30+ brands & retailers globally to reduce food waste & stockouts by 15%Scaled GTM with 300% YoY ARR growth, se…
Moderators
AJ Thomas - Good Trouble Ventures (Founder & CEO)
AJ Thomas is a visionary leader, investor, and futurist driving innovation at the intersection of technology, creativity, and impact. As CEO of The Troublemaker Lab and Founder of Good Trouble Ventures, she empowers founders and invests in the future of entertainment and digital transformation.
Formerly at Google X, AJ specializes in AI-driven workforce transformation and high-impact tea…
Simran Nath - Suncoast VC (Partner)
As a former founder of a non-profit organization, early-stage Chief of Staff, and EA to multiple startup CEOs, I’ve gained a wealth of experience working in the exciting and sometimes overwhelming space of starting and scaling businesses.
I started my career in the influencer beauty space, working for Deepica Mutyala, the founder of Live Tinted. During this time, I honed my marketing sk…
Hosts
James Gee - Startup Grind (Global Sales Director)
James Gee is the Global Sales Director at Startup Grind who relocated to the Bay Area from the UK to immerse himself in Silicon Valley's vibrant tech ecosystem. With both a startup founder and a banking background, James is your go-to guy for all things startups and partnerships, and he loves connecting the dots between founders, investors, and coaches across different fields.
Always hap…
Mabel Chan - Superconnected (Founder)
I'm a super connecter and a seasoned events architect with a track record of hosting over 100+ immersive tech events, drawing more than 95,000 + attendees.
My expertise in designing and social engineering experiences has led to successful partnerships with over 70+ startups, companies, and vibrant communities. These collaborations have not only fostered strong backing from the startup c…
---
Global Partner
Google Cloud (https://cloud.google.com/resources/content/future-of-ai-report?utm_source=events-with-google&utm_medium=et&utm_campaign=FY25-Q1-NORTHAM-SMB31054-website-dl-AIThoughtLeader-52420&utm_content=startup-grind&utm_term=-&hl=en)
Strategics
CANOPY (https://www.canopy.space/)
CANOPY is a network of exceptional shared office space for members, locally placed, committed to supporting your ventures and inspiring your next conversations.
Salesbricks (https://www.salesbricks.com/)
Salesbricks provides an "Amazon checkout" experience for B2B SaaS and AI companies. It is a deal closing platform that gives startups an unfair advantage with the first ever customizable checkout. With Salesbricks, companies can increase win rates, eliminate buyer and seller friction, and accelerate collections.
Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. We host monthly events in more than 600 cities and 125+ countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies. Our monthly fireside chat interviews, startup mixers and annual conferences provide ample opportunities to connect with amazing startups and the people behind them, tap into a strong support network, form meaningful connections and gain inspiration for the startup journey ahead. For more information visit StartupGrind.com or follow us on twitter @StartupGrind.
Complete your event RSVP here: https://www.startupgrind.com/events/details/startup-grind-silicon-valley-san-francisco-bay-area-presents-funded-female-founder-ii-yc-founders-amp-early-stage-vcs/.
