Most investors say they want to close the gender funding gap.
But if you don’t fund female-led startups, how can you really claim to back the future?
In episode 99 of Women Disrupting Tech, Laurie Lancee, managing director of the Angel Initiative, shares how she’s building a movement of female angel investors so that more women founders get funded, supported, and seen.
Key Takeaways from episode 99
Here’s what you’ll learn by listening:
🔍 How even the CEO can be overlooked when she’s a woman
📊 Why lowering investment thresholds opens doors for first-time female angels
💡 What Laurie learned when shifting from cautious planner to bold founder.
Ready to hear what real disruption sounds like? Listen now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or Amazon. Or hit the play button below👇.
How The Angel Initiative Is Closing the Gender Funding Gap with Laurie Lancee | Ep. 99 – Women Disrupting Tech
Events for Women Disrupting Tech
Below are some events worth visiting in the coming months. You’ll find a full overview of all events, including links to buy tickets, on the events page.
Female Venture’s Founders Table: Empowering Women in Business
Date: 4 June 2025
Location: voco® The Hague
Start 15:00 – Finish: 18:30
Tickets: buy your tickets (sold out)
FemTech Unite!
Date: 14 May 2025
Location: Equals, Amsterdam
Time: 15:30 – 19:00
Tickets: On Luma
The Angel Initiative Pitch Event
Date: 15 May 2025
Location: VU StartHub
Time: 14:30 – 17:00
More info and tickets: on the website
Diverse Leaders in Tech Events
Date: 28 May 2025
Location: B. Amsterdam
Start: 17:00 – 19:30
More info and tickets: on the website
The Culture Code
Date: 3 June 2025
Location: Club ACE, Amsterdam
Time: 12:00 – 19:30 hours
Tickets: On the Culture Code Website
- Key Takeaways from episode 99
- Events for Women Disrupting Tech
- Join the Women Disrupting Tech Community
- The Magic In Episode 99 🪄
- Zero-Cost Ways to Support Women Disrupting Tech
- Three Practical Takeaways
- About Laurie Lancee
- About The Angel Initiative
- Share what’s on your mind!
- Next week on Women Disrupting Tech
Join the Women Disrupting Tech Community
One of the important things about changing the funding landscape is access to the right communities. That’s why I’m building The Women Disrupting Tech Community.
Join to receive updates, including:
🚀 Early access to new episodes, including a weekly email with moments that inspired me and key takeaways.
🚀 Exclusive Research about what it takes to get a more inclusive tech ecosystem.
🚀 Access to exclusive events that we sponsor or co-organize.
The Magic In Episode 99 🪄
The magic in this episode is in the way Laurie’s work echoes the mission behind Women Disrupting Tech: to make inclusion in tech the new normal by 2032. And, like me, she wants to build a solution that does not depend on her.
Here are three highlights of our conversation:
She Turns Frustration Into Fuel
When investors overlooked her as a CEO and sent invitations to her male team member instead, Laurie didn’t just shake her head. She took action. That experience became the spark for her work with The Angel Initiative. It’s a powerful reminder that the moments that challenge us most often lead to our most important work.
She Builds a New Way In
Startup investing is often associated with big checks from rich white men. Laurie is unlocking opportunities for women who’ve never seen themselves as part of the world. She believes access should not be tied to wealth alone, but to willingness, purpose, and community. That’s inclusion in action.
She’s Designing a Future That Doesn’t Need Her
Laurie’s goal is to make the gender funding gap invisible. She imagines a future where female-only initiatives are no longer needed because equity is finally embedded in the system. That vision resonates deeply with my own mission for this podcast. We both want to build something that becomes unnecessary one day because the world has caught up.
When women invest in women, they don’t just move money. They build momentum.
🎧 Listen to episode 99 of Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify. And share what you believe is holding back funding in the poll below.
Zero-Cost Ways to Support Women Disrupting Tech
Want to help make inclusion in tech the new normal by 2032? Here’s how:
- Follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Better yet, leave a rating or review from one up to five stars on Spotify or Apple. You’ll help other people discover the podcast and help me improve.
- Share the podcast with friends, family, and co-workers. This way, you give the women disrupting tech the platform they need to make it happen. Use the buttons below to share.
Three Practical Takeaways
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Laurie shares how she’s building a more inclusive investment landscape. Here are three practical takeaways from our conversation:
Make Investing More Accessible
To allow women to participate, The Angel Initiative has a minimum ticket size of just €2.5K and a target of 20K over five years. Practical training and peer support help new investors build confidence and clarity. This opens the door to women who may never have seen themselves as angels before.
Being An Angel Is Not Only About Money
The initiative encourages every angel to develop an investment thesis. Not just about sectors and amounts, but also about the added value they bring. Angels are seen as partners, not just funders. They offer their network, knowledge, and experience to help startups grow.
Redefine What a “Good” Founder Looks Like
The startup world often rewards loud pitches and big projections. Laurie brings a different lens: one that values substance over style and sees the importance of creating room for the “not-so-usual suspects” to get funded. That includes founders in impact, femtech, and consumer sectors—areas often overlooked by traditional investors.
And if there’s one thing Laurie wants investors to remember, it’s this:
“With every question that you ask, think for yourself: is this also a question that I would ask a male founder?”
🎧 Hear the full story on Apple Podcasts.
Or click the image below to listen on YouTube. And don’t forget to share your thoughts about the episode in the comments.
“I really hope that in 10 years’ time, The Angel Initiative is not needed anymore.”
Laurie Lancee, Managing Director of The Angel Initiative
About Laurie Lancee
Laurie Lancee is the managing director of The Angel Initiative, a foundation on a mission to close the gender funding gap by increasing the number of female angel investors and funding more female-led startups.
Drawing from her own experience as a founder who faced unexpected bias during fundraising, Laurie now leads efforts to make angel investing more accessible, with low entry thresholds and hands-on support.
When you’re a female founder or investor, make sure you connect with Laurie on LinkedIn.
About The Angel Initiative
The Angel Initiative wants to close the gender funding gap by making investing in female-led startups more accessible.
Through community, education, and strategic matchmaking, the Angel Initiative helps reshape the early-stage investment landscape, making it more diverse, more inclusive, and ultimately, more effective.
Their goal is to activate at least 100 female angels and fund 25 startups in 2025, focusing on companies where at least 25% of the cap table is owned by women.
Learn more about The Angel Initiative on its website and by following its page on LinkedIn. And you’ll find the pitching event we discussed in the episode in the list of events above.
Share what’s on your mind!
What’s the biggest barrier to funding female-led startups?
a) Lack of female investors
b) Unconscious investor bias
c) Male-dominated networks
Let me know what you think in the comments.
And if you would like to suggest a guest or a theme for the podcast, please let me know via email or send a DM on LinkedIn.
Next week on Women Disrupting Tech
Next week, it is time for episode 100. Two true diversity champions will be my guests to educate us on how you can become one too.
After that, it is time for a new season of Women Disrupting Tech. Subscribe to my Substack to discover who my guests will be.
Until we meet again in the next episode, keep being awesome!
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 
1 Comment