The “Fund Her” panel at the 2025 GatherVerse S.H.E. Summit was an urgent call to action to close the gender funding gap in entrepreneurship. Bringing together a powerhouse lineup of women founders, investors, and advocates, the roundtable tackled the systemic barriers that limit access to capital for women and proposed meaningful solutions for change.
Speakers:
- Nadja Bester – Co-founder, AdLunam Inc
- Dian Trabulsy – Founder, Grace May LLC
- Kim Stirling – Certified Financial Planner, Founder of NextGen Wealth Partners
- Angele Doyne – Co-founder, Disruptor DAO
- Mel Rose Wild – Founder, Permaculture Capital
- Alison McMurtrie – CEO & Founder, iDunn Consulting
- Sorcha Mulligan – Advisor & Investor, Diversity Blockchain
- Lynn Gitau – Moderator, Communications Director, GatherVerse
Key Takeaways:
- Women Face Bias from the Start:
Nadja Bester highlighted the unconscious cognitive biases that surface as soon as a woman walks into a funding room. She emphasized the need for visible representation and internal confidence.
- Support Must Span the Startup Lifecycle:
Dian Chapas underscored the importance of holistic support—from mentorship and incubation to post-investment advisory. She stressed the power of peer networks.
- Community Is Crucial:
Angele Doyne and Sorcha Mulligan both spoke about the power of tribe-building and collective investment, urging women to leverage each other’s expertise and shared vision.
- Funding Women Fuels Economies:
Alison demonstrated how female entrepreneurs reinvest into communities, create inclusive workspaces, and manage capital with impact-focused intent—driving societal and economic development.
- Investors Must See the Opportunity:
Speakers challenged VCs to flip the script and view the underfunded 98% as an untapped goldmine, not a risk. Pension funds and sovereign wealth vehicles were urged to rethink capital deployment for broader impact.
- Building Networks With Intention:
Mel Rose shared an emotionally charged reminder that women founders face mental, emotional, and systemic hurdles far beyond pitch decks. She called for spiritual and emotional well-being as prerequisites to funding.
- Governments and Institutions Have a Role:
Nadja closed with a call for public-private collaboration, highlighting how policies and funding programs should reinforce inclusion, but must be matched with personal agency and self-belief among women.
This panel wasn’t just a conversation—it was a call to disrupt an outdated system. As the panelists collectively emphasized: parity isn’t charity—it’s smart investing.
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