Investing
World’s Top 5 Female Venture Capitalists There were 12 female venture capitalists on Forbes’ 2021 Midas List, which ranks the world’s top 100 venture capital tech investors. This year’s number is up from 11 last year and ties 2019’s record. Here’s a look at the leading five women. and has backed whimsical moonshots like China’s first flying taxi, eHang 184, to Kingsoft WPS, which has posted an 81x return. Most recently, portfolio company and ed-tech platform Huohua hit unicorn status by raising funds at a $1.5 billion valuation in January 2021. The Singaporean joined California-based GGV Capital in 2005, the same year she opened its first office in China.
Mary Meeker FIRM: Bond Capital HQ: Woodside, U.S.
Meeker serves as a general partner of VC firm Bond Capital. Her new growth fund raised $1.25 billion in capital commitments in 2019. Previously, she was a partner at VC giant Kleiner Perkins. Meeker was behind the bets on Instacart, Slack, Square, Airbnb, Facebook, and Twitter. The internet analyst releases her famous Internet Trends report each spring, which details her tech predictions in 200 data-laden slides. The 61-year-old was also among Forbes’ 2020 list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
Anna Fang FIRM: ZhenFund COUNTRY: Beijing, China
Fang has been partner and CEO of early-stage venture fund ZhenFund since 2011, where she oversees a portfolio backed by well over 600 startup companies. The 38-year-old has led investments of billiondollar firms including Xiaohongshu (the lifestyle and shopping site also known as Red), Horizon Robotics, Mia, VIPKid, Good Driver, Perfect Diary, and fresh produce platform F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M
Jing Hong FIRM: Gaocheng Capital COUNTRY: Beijing, China
Anna Fang
Nice Tuan. She began her career as an investment banker at JPMorgan’s New York office, covering consumer and retail firms.
Mar Hershenson FIRM: Pear VC COUNTRY: Los Altos, U.S.
A newcomer to the Midas list in 2021, Hershenson made her debut thanks to Pear VC’s early bet on DoorDash. Pear VC also has a stake in Guardant Health, which went public in December. The Spainborn venture capitalist started Pear VC with former rug dealer Pejman Nozad in 2013. After earning a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford
University in 1999, she developed a technique for optimizing the design of analog semiconductors. Hershenson also founded three startups and taught engineering at Stanford for nearly a decade. The 49-year-old managing partner has registered 14 patents.
Jenny Lee FIRM: GGV Capital COUNTRY: Shanghai, China
Thanks to her focus on edtech, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Lee has gained widespread recognition in the Chinese VC space. The 49-yearold serves as managing partner at GGV Capital
Hong, a founding partner at Gaocheng Capital, is another newcomer to the Midas list in 2021. With nearly two decades of experience in growth-stage private equity investment, the 47-year-old has led bets on e-commerce giant Alibaba, online-to-offline business Meituan, and vehicle-for-hire outfit Didi. The growth-stage investment firm also has an investment in Youzan, the largest provider of WeChat stores in mainland China. In 2020, the Harvard grad helped close a $300 million fund. Previously, Hong was a partner at Hillhouse, and before that, a managing director at General Atlantic. JULY 2021
BY JAMILA GANDHI; IMAGE COURTESY OF ANNA FANG
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