#66: How more women can start to invest in female-led startups with Gillian Fleming

Gillian Fleming's expertise includes Advisor, Investor and Non-Exec to start-up and spin-out companies with 20 years’ experience in the entrepreneurial ecosystem advising and nurturing early-stage ideas through to company creation. Specialising in technology commercialisation her expertise covers energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, engineering, biotech and food & drink sectors. With a grounding in sales and marketing within the energy and engineering sector across Europe she progressed into the University commercialisation and has successfully developed numerous startup / spinout companies from the Universities of Strathclyde, West of Scotland, Heriot Watt and Dundee. Currently, Gillian is Founding Director and CEO of Mint Ventures (Syndicate) Ltd, an angel group focused on investing in women led and diverse teams with a social ethical or environmental purpose. She also represents Kero Developments Partners in Scotland, a private VC that invests in early-stage engineering related start-up companies. She is also Entrepreneurial Scotland Saltire Fellow, a mentor for Women’s Enterprise Scotland (WES) as well as being an active angel investor. We cover the following in our conversation: Female founders  Why access to capital continues to be a challenge. Female investors and why more women investing into female led innovation is key.  Mint Ventures: the angel syndicate and what they invest in.  And how we encourage more women to invest. ***