Astia - Inclusion, Innovation, Investment. | Icebreaker

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Astia - Inclusion, Innovation, Investment. | Icebreaker

Astia - Inclusion, Innovation, Investment.

Astia - Inclusion, Innovation, Investment.

Founded in 2000 by tech pioneer Catherine Muther, Astia has remained steadfast in its commitment to creating a more equitable venture capital landscape.

17 members

Contact info

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astia.org

Members

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Investor in Neuralink, xAI, Palantir, Spotify, Coinbase, Function Health, Airbnb, Uber, Paytm, Pinterest, Lambda Labs, Oatly, Allbirds, Warby Parker, Scopely, Agility Robotics, Oatly, and Impossible Foods.

Lindsay Freeman Avagliano

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Well-rounded executive with expertise in emerging companies, venture capital, corporate law and financial services. Extensive deal execution and operations experience in a broad range of industries including enterprise software, govtech/smart cities, health & wellness, IoT, agtech, and CPG. Track record of successfully implementing strategic venture programs on behalf of corporate and government partners. Skilled networker, connector and ecosystem-builder for early-stage companies and investors, especially those with underrepresented founders.

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As the Director of Enterprise Sales & Partnerships at Chainlink Labs, I led a team of business development specialists who are dedicated to increasing the awareness and adoption of Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle network for smart contracts. With over 10 years of combined experience in businesses development, law, sales and marketing, I have a unique perspective on how to communicate the value proposition and benefits of Chainlink to various audiences, such as developers, enterprises, and crypto projects. I am passionate about the mission of Chainlink Labs, which is to enable the next generation of smart contracts and usher in a new age of economic fairness, transparency, and efficiency. I am proud to have been part of a very talented team that shares this vision and works collaboratively to achieve it.

✈️ Irra Ariella Khi

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I’m an award-winning tech CEO, founder of four organisations, and a mother of five. My success comes from relentless persistence—and a long list of failures. Here are five things I’ve majorly FAILED at: Failed as a founder of three prior startups Failed to get my PhD (to my parents’ disappointment) Failed at 'family'—divorced single mum by 30 Failed at pitching VCs—800 NOs before my first YES funding Zamna Failed to ask for help—was briefly homeless These failures shaped me as a first-generation immigrant turned CEO and humanitarian. I share them in keynotes and workshops that inspire action, blending lessons from: Leading Zamna, the AI company revolutionising global aviation Founding Sunflower Relief, which raised £3M+ for life-saving aid in Ukraine Balancing five kids while breaking barriers in male-dominated industries Audiences leave moved and motivated. As one organiser put it: “Irra’s energy is unmatched—her story stays with you long after she’s off the stage.” Want me to speak at your event? Get in touch: www.irraariellakhi.com Represented by London Speaker Bureau: https://lnkd.in/eJZKQSM8 Irra Ariella Khi is an award-winning CEO. Named Most Influential CEO 2024 and Private Equity Software CEO of the Year 2023, she’s also a winner of Pitch@Palace royal competition and one of Management Today’s ‘35 Women Under 35’. Irra has been selected as ComputerWeekly’s ‘Most Influential Women in IT’ for 5 years in a row 2020-2025. Recognised for her impact in tech, investment, and security, she’s secured UKBAA awards for Disruptive Tech and Female Founder Innovation—all while scaling a VC-backed company and raising five children. Now, for the part where I have NOT failed (yet!). As CEO of Zamna AI and Sunflower Relief, I lead two organisations leveraging data to transform aviation and humanitarian aid. With 20 years of experience in founding, financing, and scaling data-driven startups, I’ve built expertise in venture fundraising, identity verification, web3, and blockchain. I believe in using data as a force for good—and I’m grateful to work with a diverse, talented team that shares this vision.

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I'm an innovative, tech-centric senior leader with deep operations and marketing experience and a background in economics. This combination of expertise (along with experience in both fast-growth startups and large, multinational organizations) enables me to see challenges and opportunities from multiple angles then create / optimize game-changing strategy that delivers genuine value. I love developing and leading teams. I excel in building excitement and galvanizing people to deliver unprecedented results while growing as professionals. I'm passionate about empowering startups to become default alive. Through my strategic growth consultancy, B12, I advised early-stage companies on successfully building and scaling enduring businesses. As a Venture Partner for Republic, I'm democratizing access to funding.

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Let’s chat: https://intro.co/chiachebe Chi Achebe is the Founder and Managing Partner of Achebe Capital, a seed stage VC fund that is on a mission to bridge Diaspora communities, starting with Africa, by investing in Africa, the African Diaspora, and New Americans. Achebe Capital advances joy, creativity, longevity, and equity across Africa and the African Diaspora, through investing in Care, Climate Action, Commerce, and Culture, and targeting 50:50 gender parity. Achebe Capital has received backing from Melinda French Gates among others. Chi has personally invested in multiple unicorn companies. Portfolio companies include: Bamboo, Brex, FilmHedge, Flutterwave, Juno Medical, Mono, Republic, and Sabi. Prior to Achebe Capital, Chi led global GTM strategy at Google, enhanced VC fund performance tracking at Citi Bank, founded an award-winning health tech startup in South Africa, and built The Anzisha Prize, a pan-African entrepreneurship award & accelerator program that was anchored by a multi-million dollar commitment from The MasterCard Foundation and African Leadership Group (named one of Africa’s most innovative companies in 2016 by Fast Company). She holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania (with honors) and an MBA from Columbia Business School (Feldberg Scholar).

Catherine Berman

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CEO @ CNote | Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 100 Women of Influence 2022 | Transforming social impact through investments

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SingleSprout is a tech-enabled search firm that specializes in hiring software engineers, data scientists, product managers, and attorneys for high-growth tech companies across the US. Our proprietary technology built by in-house engineers automatically sources and matches candidates, allowing our recruiters to focus on building high-quality relationships. www.singlesprout.com www.singlesprout.com/clients-list/ Lateral Law Firm Attorneys (Associates, Counsel, Partners) In-House Counsel (all attorney positions, from Associate Counsel to General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer) VP of Engineering (mix of hands on & management) Software Engineers (Python, Go, Node, Ruby, PHP, Java, Scala) Front End Engineers (React, Backbone, Javascript, Angular, HTML, CSS) Mobile Developers (iOS & Android) System Engineers/SRE/DevOps (Linux/Unix, Amazon EC2, scripting, Ansible) Data Engineers (Spark, Kafka, Hive) Data Scientists (R, Python, NLP, Hadoop) QA Engineers (Selenium, WinRunner) Product Managers (from analytical to engineering backgrounds) Designers (visual and interaction)

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Craig Zelizer is a connector, innovator, professor, changemaker, and social entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the fields of impact investing, social innovation, and conflict resolution. He is the Founder and CEO of PCDN.global, one of the world’s leading platforms connecting changemakers in diverse sectors to opportunities around the world. Craig is also an advisor, scout, and deal partner for several funds and organizations that invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups that are solving social and environmental challenges, especially in the US and Latin America. He is passionate about supporting diverse and inclusive founders and communities, and leveraging his expertise in online education, networking, and content creation to foster creative social impact. Craig teaches classes on impact careers and social entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, where he served as a professor and associate director in the Conflict Resolution program for over 10 years. He has led trainings, workshops, and consultancies in over 20 countries for organizations such as USIP, USAID, CRS, and Rotary International. Craig is a Fulbright Scholar, a Boren Fellow, and a recipient of multiple awards and honors for his work.

Janneke Niessen

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Please send pitches for CapitalT via tinyurl.com/capitaltvc Janneke is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, board member and mentor for startups and co-founder of CapitalT, a VC fund that invests in technology companies using proprietary technology to evaluate entrepreneurial teams. In the past she has started and exited 2 international tech companies. She is co-initiator of InspiringFifty, an initiative that aims to increase diversity in tech by making female role models more visible. As part of the InspiringFifty initiative, Janneke has published The New Girl Code and Project Prep, a novel for young girls. The goal of the project is to encourage young girls, inspiring them to pursue a career in technology and invest in an educational foundation focusing on math and computer science. Janneke is member of supervisory board of UNICEF, boardmember of Codam, advisory board member of FutureNL, member of the investment committee of Innovation Quarter and the supervisory board of NPEX. Janneke was named 2014 EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Most Innovative Leader in 2016, and one the 10 most prominent angel investors in 2018 and Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Yearin 2019, a few of many in a long list of honours for Janneke. Janneke did research with Eva de Mol on the investments in female entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. This has led to a lot of media, discussion and questions in parliament. Legislation is prepared now to take action and change the situation. The industry itself has agreed to a quota for their own teams and the teams they invest in. Fun fact: Janneke had her picture taken by Annie Leibovitz and has been appearing in a campaign for UBS that was shown in e.g. WSJ Magazine, The Economist, Wallpaper but also on billboards at London City Airport, NY JFK and the airport of Frankfurt. .