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New Women Led VC Firm Seeks To Raise Up $200M To Invest In Software Companies

Software startups have another avenue to raise funding: a new venture capital firm led by female investors.

Full In Venture Partners, based in New York, is aiming to raise $150 million to $200 million to invest in software startups. Led by Elodie Dupuy, the former principal at ICONIQ Strategic Partners, the new VC is focused on software companies residing in North America, Europe, and Israel. Dupuy, along with partner Jess Davis, the Harvard University graduate and former Insight Venture Partners VC, is aiming to create a different kind of venture capital firm that will also invest in online marketplaces, mobile applications and Internet travel companies. Eric Tonkyn, a former investor at Bridgewater Associates, is also a co-founder of the VC firm.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Dupuy said Full In Venture Partners is aiming to make 10 to 12 investments in early-stage growth companies with the average investment of around $15 million. The VC said she already has seven deals in the process of getting funding. The firm wants its main focus to be on building tools and coming up with ideas to better serve its clients. As veterans in the industry, they know all too well what entrepreneurs have to go through with some of the more traditional VC firms.

“For decades, we have watched entrepreneurs sacrifice their precious time entertaining calls with junior analysts, jumping through highly fund-specific diligence hoops, and embarking on months-long journeys to raise capital, often at the expense of operating their businesses,” the company’s Website states. “We started Full In, a firm that holds itself to the highest operating standards. We are maniacally focused on building tools to serve you, help you, interest you – for free.”

The launch of the new VC firm comes at a time when females still aren’t that represented in the financial services industry including at venture capital firms. According to research conducted by consulting firm McKinsey, in North America women account for more than half the entry-level workforce in financial services yet they hold less than one in five positions in the C-suite. Among women and men in the financial services sector that begin their careers at parity, 19% of females make it up the corporate ladder to the C-suite. That’s lower than the 22% average for all women in the U.S.

Dupuy started out as a receptionist at Insight Venture Partners and moved up the ranks. She told Bloomberg despite the statistics she and her partner do not view their gender as a roadblock to raising money for the fund. “Part of the reason Jess and I have done well in the industry is we haven’t felt constrained by our gender,” Dupuy said.