Meet the female founder brewing up a storm with her craft beer,

Kathryn Finney had been working on her newest 'stealth startup' for some time. Most of you will know her great work with Digital Undivided and the Doonie Fund, yet she felt it was time to create even more impact and the Genius Guild was born. Learn all about how she plans to help build great black founded businesses and help give racism a beating, all at the same time. Another trailblazer to watch is our featured Female Founder of the week from InvestHer Directory - Meet Shyla Sheppard, the social impact investor who decided to craft her own entrepreneurial path by building a successful craft beer company no less! And last, but not least, keep an eye out for the latest news on new funds raised to invest in women entrepreneurs - it's a good week, despite the pandemic!

💡 Meet Shyla Sheppard, Founder of the Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. - Following Her Own Successful Recipe

After having spent a long time supporting and investing in other entrepreneurs while working in the social impact sphere, Shyla Sheppard felt it was time to follow her own arrow. Shyla decided to turn her love of craft beer into a full-time business endeavour and in 2013 the Bow & Arrow Brewing Company opened its doors to the public.

Shyla Sheppard is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and holds an economic degree from Stanford and she has nearly a decades worth of experience when it comes to business experience as well well as corporate and non-profit board directorships.

The Bow & Arrow Brewing Company offer unique blends of beer and each kind is inspired by the landscape, culture and people of the Southwest.

🗞️ Key Funding News

Plum Alley Measures Its Portfolio Impact As It Raises A New Fund

Some great news coming out of New York this week as private investment platform Plum Alley has invested $32 million across 23 companies. There is also a new female-founder fund in the making which will target Series A funding opportunities and Plum Alley's two female founders, Andrea Turner Moffitt and Deborah Jackson indicate that the firm will continue to offer the current co-investing model to potential syndicate partners.

A essential aspect moving forward will also be the "intentional investing" approach as well as the firm's own framework for assessing a company's impact.

Women-founded companies outperform male-founded companies in Central & Eastern Europe

Despite raising only 1% of investment in Central & Eastern Europe, women-founded startups continuously outperform their male counterparts. New research commissioned by European Women in VC, Experior VC, and Unconventional VC is seeking to bring further attention to the issue at hand. The CEE investment ecosystem needs an overhaul and the report is set to bring some new perspective on the VC market in the region using a gender lens.

Could Investing In Women Be The Next Bitcoin Opportunity? Making The Case For Gender Lens Investing

What does investing in Bitcoin and investing in women have in common? Perhaps not much at first glance but this intriguing article will add another perspective.

The increasing awareness of GLI, Gender Lens Investing holds similarities to what happened when Bitcoin entered the investment scene in that it created a buzz, it was the next big thing and investors were encouraged to jump in feet first.

GLI has created a similar buzz and just like Bitcoin the numbers are not quite adding up. There is still a long way to go before female general partners can leave the epithet of "endangered species" behind. We're also to well aware of the depressing numbers when it comes to the amount of venture capital going to all-female startup teams.

Where is this all going? Read on to learn more about it.

💸 Show Me The Money!

Diversity-focused Harlem Capital raises $134M

It's been busy times over at Harlem Capital and it's about to get even busier as the firm recently announced it has raised $134 million for its second fund, effectively surpassing its target of $100 million and its initial cap of $125 million.

With a commitment to invest in founders from diverse backgrounds since opening its doors in 2015, Harlem Capital is walking the walk and will continue to broaden the scope of their investment pipeline with Fund II. With a focus on seed-stage investments in companies that are post-product, it will be industry agnostic but have a focus on consumer and enterprise tech.

It will also introduce the idea of "culture carry", want to learn more? Read on here.