Welcome to our #151 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the recent launch of Sophia Amoruso’s $5m+ venture capital (VC) firm called Trust Fund (US).
She is the founder of Nasty Gal and Girlboss in the US.
Crucially, Sophia is also raising in public which means that anyone can apply but has to be an accredited investor (legal partner). Recently, Trust Fund has increased the size of the community fund beyond $1m.
***
And don’t forget to can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Trust Fund: Sophia Amoruso launches a new VC firm
The fund is targeting a $5m+ raise.
Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal and Girlboss has launched her own $5m+ venture fund called Trust Fund, as reported by TechCrunch.
Crucially, Sophia is also raising in public which means that anyone can apply but has to be an accredited investor (legal partner). And she is taking cheques between $2000-$20,000.
Why?
She’s looking for diversity on her cap table:
“because there’s a lot more women who can write $2,000 checks than there are who can write $200,000 checks”
Initially, this was limited to $1m, but over $5.3m applications have been received in over a week+. Because of this overwhelming demand, the Trust Fund has expanded the size of the community raise. And because they are not optimising per cheque size, everyone is encouraged to apply.
Prominent investors have already invested..
…including Marc Andreessen, Andrew Chen and Chris Dixon, entrepreneur Ev Williams and icon Paris Hilton, as well as support from investors Ryan Hoover and Cleo Capital’s Sarah Kunst.
Sophia has been been an angel investor for four years and has invested $1m of her own money into 23 startups including:
Blueland: which builds sustainable cleaning products (instead of using plastics)
Passport (logistics): provider of international shipping services intended to help brands reach their potential.
Liquid Death: is a canned-water company, sourced from the Austrian alps.
Pipe: is a modern capital company allowing founders to raise money based on future growth & revenue.
Public: is an investing platform that helps people be better investors.
Kindbody: is the only employee fertility benefit solution that provides care directly (for employers).
Only 8% of partners at venture firms (US) are women…
… and founders are looking for female investors to join their cap table. Given Sophia’s operator experience, high profile (plus influencer status) and industry connections, the odds of being included in deals is that much higher.
But more female founders need startup funding and female investors are likely to invest in them at twice the rate of men.
Currently female founders receive less than 3% of VC funding.
Trust Fund is looking to invest in…
…digital consumer companies, with social proof and will lean towards startups which are generating revenue and take a ‘bootstrapping’ approach.
However, the fund does not have a diversity mandate:
“I plan to invest in men and women, and everything in between. And if anything, like why not invest in the privilege and ride the coattails of a dude?”
The aim is to amplify startups their investments by promoting them to:
Sophia’s 120k newsletter subscribers
600k+ Instagram followers
230k LinkedIn followers
105k Twitter followers.
Meanwhile, the Trust Fund's portfolio companies reach over 1m people across Sophia's channels who trust her taste.
***
What next? (Re) listen The Purse Podcast:
News in Brief
Financial news
Hedge Fund that got China right sees risk in US markets as stock and junk bond investors ignore recession risk.
Semi-conductor stocks are seen benefiting from the rise of generative AI, such as ChatGPT. Since bottoming in October, semi-conductors have been best-performing sector. SOX is up 29% off bottom vs S&P 500 up only 11% over same period. Barclays has upgraded AMD, QCOM, STX, & raised PT on NVDA.
The FTSE 100 was muted on Friday after a week of company updates and economic data saw London’s leading index range bound.
US economy expanded at 2.9% annual pace from October-December, ending 2022 w/momentum despite pressure of high interest rates & widespread fears of a looming recession. Decelerated from Q3 3.2% annual growth rate.
Euro jumps $1.09+ after said the European Central Bank (ECB) is set to raise interest rates by 50bps at upcoming meetings. This would narrow interest rate differential w/US. For Fed, markets are expecting only small rate hike of 25bps in Feb w/terminal rate at 4.9%, 40bps above current rate.
Europe is facing a rapid contraction of mortgage lending as a jump in interest rates cause financing costs to surge, all but wiping out demand. Loans for house purchases fell below €5bn in December, a 70% decline year-over-year.
The former chief economist of the Bank of England (BOE) has warned there is “more pain to come” for households and the wider economy as mortgage rate increases hit people’s bank accounts and weigh on spending.
Poorest in UK have £40 a month less to spare than a year ago, study finds. Richest have gained similar amount over same period, reflecting differing impacts of inflation.
Microsoft is making $10bn bet in OpenAI, pioneering AI research lab behind #ChatGPT. ChatGPT has captured imagination of broad swath of users for its ability to imitate way real people talk & write. Microsoft market has cap gained $7bn.
Buzzfeed shares surge as much as 84%, extending yesterday’s 120% rally, on the digital-media company’s plans to use OpenAI, an announcement which Bank of America says should be positive for investor sentiment.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
After a rally above $23,800, bitcoin bounced back from a temporary drop below $22,600 earlier in the week, to level out just over $23,000+ for a small 1.6% weekly gain. Crypto stocks generally rose over the past week.
Ethereum dropped nearly 5.2% over the week, and it is trading now at $1,592+. Ethereum developers announced on Tuesday that they had made important progress towards the network’s next scheduled upgrade, the much-anticipated Shanghai upgrade.
Axie Infinity (AXS), the native token for the eponymous blockchain-based video game, blew up 25% this week and gained of 22% on Monday alone after a token unlocked released 2% of the game’s total supply onto the market. It’s currently worth $11.44.
Other notable rallies by leading cryptocurrencies this week included Avalanche (AVAX), which blew up 16% to $20.29, OKB, which rose 13% to $38.25, and Polygon (MATIC), up 8.5% to $1.11.
On Tuesday, European Union lawmakers passed requirements for banks to disclose if they are dealing with cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase shares were up nearly 22%, while MicroStrategy rose just over 15% and Jack Dorsey’s Block gained 17%.
Coffee Break? Read This
The workplace is failing women. Business leaders can stop it
Women suffer guilt, abuse and disapproval. No wonder Jacinda Ardern is knackered.
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.
The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.
The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
Share this post