Meet 12 female partners in Europe promoted or hired this year

Last year, Sifted published the very first complete list of female VC partners of Europe. 

A year on, the number of female VC partners has jumped up — although not by very much — and now sits at 301.

Who’s been promoted? Who’s moved firm to nab a partner position? And which women have taken matters into their own hands and launched funds of their own?

We profile 12 female VC partners in new roles.

Find the full list of 300+ female VC partners here.

Manon Sarah Littek and Janna Ensthaler, Green Generation Fund, Berlin

Littek and Ensthaler announced the final close of their €100m Green Generation Fund in May this year. They will invest in climate tech and foodtech startups across Europe at pre-seed through to Series A. Littek previously headed up food impact investor Katjes Greenfood and was managing director of the venture arm of German media giant Hubert Burda. Ensthaler is a serial entrepreneur.  

Laura Connell, Atomico, London

Formerly a principal at Balderton, Connell joined fellow London VC firm Atomico in June 2022. At Balderton, she worked closely with companies like Truecaller and Graphcore, and at Atomico she’s continuing to focus on helping growth-stage startups. 

Annalise Dragic, Sapphire Ventures, London

After almost three years at Atomico, Dragic left to join US VC firm Sapphire in 2020 as it began building out its European team. In December last year she was promoted to partner, and is now responsible for investments at Series B all the way up to IPO in Europe. She recently shared her views in Sifted about the “alphabet soup” that is funding round labels.

Bettine Schmitz and Gesa Miczaika, AUXXO, Berlin

Well-known names in Berlin’s startup scene, Schmitz and Miczaika were both active angel investors before deciding to launch their own firm. AUXXO, a $15m fund looking to solely invest in female founders, launched in December 2021. 60% of its backers are also women. 

Carmen Rico, Cocoa, London

Previously a partner at Blossom, Rico launched her own fund — Cocoa Ventures, a VC designed to act more like an angel investor — at the start of 2022, along with former Speedinvest partner Anthony Danon. It’s a $17m pot of capital to be invested in Europe-based startups in any sector. 

Cécile Bassot and Florence Richardson, WinEquity, Paris

WinEquity, a new French firm designed to back startups with at least one female founder, launched in October 2021. Its partners, Richardson and Bassot, also head up the Femmes Business Angels network of women angel investors — and have been investing in startups for decades. 

Doreen Huber, EQT Ventures, Berlin

Huber has been part of Berlin’s startup scene since its birth. Her big gigs have included being chief sales officer and then COO at Delivery Hero, and founding and running her own startup, catering platform Lemoncat, for four years through to an acquisition. In September 2021 she became a partner at EQT Ventures.

Siobhan Brewster, AENU, Berlin

Brewster is a partner at another new Berlin-based climate tech fund, AENU. It isn’t her first partner gig — she was previously a partner at Amplifier, a VC firm investing in the supply chain ecosystem. Brewster counts food delivery startup Yababa, foodtech company Hier Foods and logistics startup Trucksters as private investments. 

Cleo Sham, Stride.VC, London

Sham is an operator turned VC. Her first big gig in tech was as general manager of Uber in the Chinese megacity Guangzhou. She then worked her way up the ranks, becoming director of European operations for the mobility giant, before joining real estate scaleup Spotahome as COO. At the same time, she became a very active angel investor before joining Stride.VC as partner in June last year.  

Amy Lewin is Sifted’s editor and cohost of The Sifted Podcast. She tweets from @amyrlewin