More Women in Venture Capital Became Partners in 2021 — Here They Are

• The venture capital industry is overwhelmingly male.
• But more firms made moves to close the gender gap in 2021, hiring and promoting female partners and general partners.
• The new checkwriters include Arianna Simpson, Carlotta Siniscalco, Crystal Huang, Parul Singh, and Susan Liu.

Last year, more women barreled through the doors of venture capital’s boys’ club.

In 2021, about 15% of general partners in venture were women, a 3.5% increase from 2019, according to a PitchBook report. The analysis focused on firms with at least $50 million in assets, and excluded healthcare-focused firms.

The trend is great news, considering that female checkwriters are more likely to invest in female founders. And female-founded startups tend to outperform all companies, exiting quicker and at higher valuations, according to PitchBook.

Katelin Holloway, a founding partner at Seven Seven Six, predicts that more women will join the ranks in 2022.

“The events of the past two years have been a real eye-opener for the VC industry as many have vocalized the notoriously homogenous makeup that’s existed for years,” said Holloway, who was head of human resources at Reddit before joining Alexis Ohanian’s firm.

“We’re confident we’ll see women fill more roles across venture than ever before,” Holloway said.

To toast their success, we’re recognizing the women in venture who made partner or general partner for the first time in 2021. The list does not include partners at Andreessen Horowitz, which gives that title to its junior investors.

The venture capital landscape is vast, and we undoubtedly left off some awesome female investors. Let us know who we missed — partners or general partners only, please — by contacting Melia Russell at mrussell@insider.com.