Attend any startup pitch competition around the D.C. region, and you’ll likely find that women are in the minority.
“It’s 95 percent men,” said Allyson Redpath, a former New York investment banker who noticed the male-dominated trend after returning to the region a couple of years ago.
That estimate is particularly puzzling given that the D.C. area has one of the highest proportions of successful women in the country.
Redpath is hoping to change the status quo with a new angel investor membership group—Citrine Angels—for D.C.-area women who want to invest in and support women-owned businesses.
The group, organized earlier this year, hopes to garner up to 100 members and grow the region’s female funding ecosystem by increasing the overall number of women angel investors.
“We’re not anti-guy at all—it’s about creating a very welcoming, supportive, collaborative group for people who don’t want to go into the existing angel groups that are out there,” said Redpath, who put up $20,000 of her personal funds to start the group.
Citrine Angels is launching at a time when the vast majority of venture capital funding still goes towards male-led companies. According to PitchBook, female-founded firms gained 2.3 percent of the total venture capital investments made in the U.S. last year.
“This is not an immediate fix—but in the long run, it’s going to be the best thing for both women investors and female founders as well.”
That said, the number of female-founded and co-founded companies in the U.S. has increased over the past several years, along with groups designed to support female investors like Pipeline Angels, which launched in New York in 2011.
Redpath wants to capitalize on that trend in D.C.
“We already see that there’s a lot of money going to female founders—a lot more than there used to be anyway,” she said.
How it works
Named after the gem said to manifest prosperity, Citrine Angels aims to creates investing opportunities for women by giving them access to a supportive environment and ongoing investor education program.
The education program will provide classes once a month on everything from term sheets and legal agreements to understanding financial statements, due diligence and what to look for in startups. Redpath said the education piece is particularly important because lots of women who are accomplished in their own fields don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of early-stage investing.
“Some people say, ‘I already give a lot of money to my church or synagogue, and I’m like, ‘hang on that’s not what this is,’” she said.
Redpath also noted that the group’s membership fee is lower than many other angel groups that charge between $1,500 to $2,500 per year. Citrine’s inaugural members who sign up in 2019 pay $875, a fee that goes to group costs including insurance, legal fees, technology and some meeting and event-related expenses.
Potential investors should, however, be prepared to write a check for a minimum of between $10,000 and $15,000 if they are going to invest—and they must fit the criteria of an accredited investor. That means having a net worth of $1 million, excluding primary residence, or an annual income of $200,000 per year over the past two years and an expectation of at least that much in the current year.
The group will not require a minimum investment in any startup, a feature that lowers the barriers to entry and helps to encourage participation.
Citrine Angels plans to invite three companies to each of its pitch meetings. But it’s up to the individual members whether or not to invest.
“We are not saying, ‘yes you should invest in this company,’ we are saying, ‘we’ve talked to a lot of other companies that you shouldn’t invest in. And we are presenting some that seem interesting to us,’” she said.
Meanwhile, vetted entrepreneurs across D.C. as well as Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond and Virginia Beach get a chance to present their ideas in front of female investors at pitch meetings that will begin in September.
All of the companies who present before Citrine Angels investors are screened by the group’s volunteer executive committee made up of accomplished businesswomen including Aurelia Flores, Kim Cayce and Lisa Friedlander, a former corporate attorney.
Entrepreneurs can apply online to present their pitch, and Citrine Angels’ executive committee aims to evaluate the companies within about 48 hours.
Companies vetted by Citrine Angels must be at the seed stage, meaning they have met criteria such as having a competitive advantage, a dedicated staff, revenue or can demonstrate traction in other areas.
From I-banking to angel investing
Redpath started the angel group following a long career in investment banking in New York, where she was working 80 hours per week and regularly traveling.
“It basically takes over your life,” said Redpath, who earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and her MBA from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “I worked during my brother’s wedding.”
Seeking a different path, she returned to the area and decided to use her financial background for social missions that she cared about and become a freelance CFO for small, growing companies in the D.C. region.
Redpath learned that many companies needed help raising capital, particularly women-led businesses whose products were aimed at women. At the same time, she noticed a dearth of women at angel investing meetings she attended around the D.C. region.
“The combination of all these things fit together, and I was just throwing out the idea like, ‘why isn’t there an angel investor group for women?’” she said.
The response to Citrine Angels has been positive thus far, especially from women who are already doing angel investing, she said.
“They are not only signing up, they are cheering us on and bringing other people to our events and referring people and creating events for me,” she said.
Redpath, who is dedicating much of her pro bono time to the group, doesn’t expect Citrine Angels to make a profit. She hopes that in 2020, the group will have enough funds to hire an investor relations manager to run the organization.
Growing the female investor ecosystem in D.C. won’t happen overnight, Redpath said.
But she sees plenty of promise.
“This is not an immediate fix—but in the long run, it’s going to be the best thing for both women investors and female founders as well.”
