00:00Let's talk a little bit about the VC landscape, because you think about what we've seen unfold over the past
00:06several weeks, the past month or so, a lot of concerns about software, about AI, and now you add, you
00:13know, a war on top of it. How is that impacting the space in which you operate?
00:18Katie, thanks for having me. It's good to be with you today. It's a time of uncertainty, as you said,
00:24in the markets, concerns about inflation, the SaaSpocalypse that's hit software stocks and early stage companies as well.
00:34But we remain focused on our mission at Pivotal, which is to advance social progress and specifically women's power and
00:42influence.
00:42And we're excited to back a set of fund managers and early stage founders that are innovating in some of
00:50the most important sectors in our economy, leveraging AI to do it, of course.
00:57But things like financial access and women's health and the care economy, where we see huge opportunities for innovation and
01:05opportunity.
01:07Well, let's talk a little bit about the care economy. I find it a fascinating space.
01:11And you think about caregivers. I mean, certainly an underappreciated part of society.
01:16But how do you invest around that? What sort of opportunities are you finding there?
01:20Sure. The care economy is a six hundred forty eight billion dollar market, Katie.
01:25That's bigger than the pharmaceutical industry. We're all caregivers at some point in our lives, and we need a more
01:32modern system, better technology to support caregivers.
01:36So we're investing directly into companies that are innovating at this in this space at the early stage that are
01:43pioneering in areas around the child welfare system.
01:47As an example, an amazing company called Benti, it's a software solution for the child welfare providers that's saving them
01:56time, improving outcomes and making lives better for kids.
01:59So that's the kind of support that caregivers need, that the systems that need to be modernized to really meet
02:06the needs of caregivers where they are today.
02:08I am curious about some of the longer term changes that we're seeing in society.
02:12And we've had a lot of wealth managers on this program that have talked a lot about just the importance
02:18of kind of a broadening base of women clients, the idea that their wealth and their situations in terms of
02:26their family situations are evolving in a way that makes them potentially probably one of the more dominant consumers in
02:33that space.
02:34And I know that you've your fund has been a big investor in Ellevest.
02:37I am curious as to whether you see those trends in place right now and how far you think that
02:44goes with regards to the differences in growth in gender when it comes to demand for financial services.
02:51Robaine, women are going to control a greater share of wealth in this country over time as assets are passed
02:57to them next generation.
02:59And so we need solutions that meet women investors, that meet women asset owners where they are and that are
03:05designed for their needs and what they're looking for in the market.
03:10So we see that as a big opportunity to invest around.
03:14And oftentimes, and this is why we're big believers in building a portfolio that has diverse perspectives at the table.
03:21Oftentimes, those that are closest to the problems can come up with the solutions to solve for them.
03:26And so we want to support and invest behind a set of founders that are innovating in areas like wealth
03:33management, like access to capital, tools that support small business owners.
03:38It's a big gap.
03:39I saw a stat recently that if we achieve gender parity and entrepreneurship, so got more capital to more women
03:46founders and small business owners, that would add over $5 trillion to the global economy.
03:52So we're trying to find solutions that will do just that across the spectrum of financial markets.
03:58Staying on those structural themes, and specifically when it comes to new business creation, I am curious, are you seeing
04:04more new business creation?
04:06I don't mean just amongst women, but overall.
04:09There's been a lot of discussion here about how, at least here in the United States, the regulatory environment and
04:14other sort of impediments have actually slowed growth in that space.
04:18We haven't seen it in our portfolio.
04:20We are constantly finding great founders that are building exciting businesses.
04:27The challenge, though, is the access to capital.
04:30And particularly for women, you know, that remains an issue.
04:34Last year, pitch book data showed that about 70, almost $74 billion went to teams with at least companies with
04:42at least one female founder, which is which is great.
04:45But only 1%, about 1.2%, went to female-only founder teams.
04:50So we still have work to do.
04:52That's a big gap.
04:52And we want to find ways to get those entrepreneurs that have the ideas, the capital that they need to
04:58innovate and grow their businesses.
05:00Well, I see that Pivotal has backed 27 firms and 13 companies to date.
05:06When you take a look at your portfolio right now, how are you feeling?
05:09I mean, does that feel like the right size, or do you have some dry powder here?
05:14We have dry powder, Katie.
05:15We're still deploying capital.
05:17We typically invest in a handful of fund managers every year.
05:21I'm really excited about the opportunity to back what we call next generation fund managers.
05:26That doesn't mean that these individuals are new to investing.
05:31Oftentimes, they have very lengthy track records at some of the best institutions and firms around the globe.
05:36But they're building new firms that are finding solutions and innovations and backing founders across the capital stack in all
05:43segments of the economy.
05:44So we see tremendous opportunity there to support some of these fund managers as they're building their businesses and their
05:51firms from the ground up and being an early catalytic partner to them with our commitments.
05:57The same is true on the fund manager's side as well, on the founder's side as well as it is
06:01on the fund manager's side.
06:02We're not lacking for opportunities or ideas to invest behind in those themes like women's health and care economy in
06:09our portfolio.
06:10Bye-bye.
06:10out.
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