I World’s Top 5 Female Venture Capitalists

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.

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 Nice Tuan. She began her career as an investment banker at JPMorgan’s New York office, covering consumer and retail firms.

Anna Fang

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 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.

Jing Hong

FIRM: Gaocheng Capital COUNTRY: Beijing, China 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.

Together We Can Change the World

Expo 2020 Dubai is on a mission to make the world a better place, and in PepsiCo it has found the perfect partner.

The countdown has begun; Expo 2020 Dubai will open its doors to the world on October 1, 2021, for six unforgettable months. After a year of unprecedented challenge, the timing couldn’t be better. Expo 2020 will serve as a launchpad for collaboration at a time when the world needs it the most. It is a chance for humanity to work together to tackle global problems and to build meaningful partnerships —one of which is already firmly in place. As an official premier partner, global F&B leader PepsiCo is working closely with the Expo 2020 Dubai team, with connections that run far deeper than refreshments.

PepsiCo and Expo 2020 Dubai share a vision. Both are on a mission to create a fun and sustainable future, and advance the region they call home. PepsiCo has been present in the Middle East since 1962, making its involvement in Expo 2020 Dubai a natural extension of its commitment to the region.

And the synergies don’t end there. Expo 2020 Dubai’s themes of opportunity, mobility, and sustainability align perfectly with PepsiCo’s global vision of winning with purpose—and winning is something that Dubai does well. “The UAE has always brought bigger, better, and bolder ideas to the world,” says PepsiCo’s CEO for Africa, Middle East, and South Asia, Eugene Willemsen. Now, Expo 2020 Dubai promises to continue that legacy, pushing the limits of creativity and innovation.

PepsiCo is not holding back, preparing to show the world what innovative and sustainable food and beverage practices look like. Already, as Expo 2020 Dubai’s Official Beverage and Snack Partner, the company has launched Aquafina® water in fully and infinitely recyclable aluminum cans. It also plans to work with waste management partners at the event to ensure PepsiCo waste is collected and recycled, supporting Expo 2020 Dubai’s goal of diverting at least 85% of waste from landfill and boosting recycling efforts.

The industry giant has some surprises up its sleeve too, with regional firsts due to be revealed in line with Expo 2020. “Through product, packaging, technological innovations, and partnerships with country pavilions, we promise to entertain, educate, surprise, and delight,” says Willemsen. For visitors, that means entertainment and memorable brand experiences, all designed to connect PepsiCo with consumers, and consumers with the global themes that matter.

With a climate emergency looming and global inequality as acute as ever, opportunity, mobility, and sustainability are what will drive positive change. For PepsiCo, this international effort is a priority—a “collective, critical effort,” says Willemsen, “one that cannot afford to wait.”

Thanks to Expo 2020 Dubai and its partners, it won’t have to. In less than four months, the event will bring together the world’s brightest minds for the global good and offer some long-overdue fun in an environment set to inspire all who visit in person or virtually.

www.pepsico.com