After closing its inaugural fund earlier this year, The Artemis Fund, a Houston-based venture capital firm focused on female-led companies, is targeting additional investments.
The Artemis Fund closed its first venture capital fund at $15 million in the first quarter, co-founders and general partners Diana Murakhovskaya and Stephanie Campbell said. The fund was raised from 96 different limited partners, including individuals, foundations, corporate partners, a law firm and a bank.
Launched in 2019, The Artemis Fund aimed to invest in startups founded by women or with women earning equity in the C-suite. Since launching, the fund now has 11 companies in its portfolio, including Houston-based firms Upgrade Boutique and Work & Mother.
"We looked at over 3,000 deals last year led by women, so there's not a lack of women starting companies," Campbell said. "There's incredible opportunity out there."
Murakhovskaya and Campbell said that The Artemis Fund plans to make five additional investments into female-led startups from its inaugural fund. Artemis invests in tech-enabled, scalable businesses in a variety of industries. A number of the fund's portfolio companies are financial technology firms, and Artemis is interested in companies that enable users to earn, save and donate money in new ways, Murakhovskaya said.
"We're seeing a big trend with people spending in different ways, spending a lot more online, converting to different types of workers, like 1099 [workers]," Murakhovskaya continued. "We're definitely looking at technology companies that can support this wave of transactions and businesses being started up."
The Artemis Fund has no immediate plans to fundraise for a second investment fund, the general partners said. The fund will focus on the remaining five investments and continuing to support its current portfolio companies.
In addition to Murakhovskaya and Campbell, The Artemis Fund is also led by co-founder and general partner Leslie Goldman.
