Mastersfund Partners

We are women who have invested in tech startups for 20 years, with 4 successful exits. Today we are leading the 21st century evolution of venture capital. Our superpower is connecting and attracting well-versed partners, all experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

Gillian Muessig

Managing Director

Anne Kennedy

Managing Director

Kathleen Baxley

CFO

Nate Doran

Operations Director

Venture Partners

Karen T. Cone

Venture Partner

Robert M. Franklin III - Mastersfund Venture Partner

Robert M. Franklin III

Venture Partner

Walt Greenberg

Venture Partner

Lakshmi Reddy

Lakshmi Reddy

Venture Partner

Maureen Gilbert

Venture Partner

Advisors

Vani Rao

Advisor

Petr Johanes - Mastersfund Advisor

Petr Johanes, PhD

Playful Emprise

Richard Swart - Mastersfund advisor

Richard Swart, PhD

Family Office Advisor & Impact Investor

Carlee Price

ADVISOR

Janis Dubno

Advisor

Partner Organizations

CFO Plans, Inc.

Women in Cloud

Women in Cloud

Project W

Project W

Sybilla Masters: Her Story

Mastersfund is named for Sybilla Masters, an early 18th-century innovator in Philadelphia who invented a machine to pound corn into what we now call grits. She left her husband and four children in 1712 to seek a patent from King George III. It was the first patent awarded to anyone in the Colonies, but it was awarded to her husband. He insisted it be written “A patent awarded to thomas Masters for an invention found out by his wife Sybilla Righton Masters”. During the three-year wait for the patent, Sybilla Masters opened a millinery shop in London, where she invented a process for creating straw hats from palmetto leaves and cornered the market, and gaining a second patent for curing the Palmetto leaves. Sybilla made her husband a very wealthy man.

It takes both men and women to set things right, and both genders benefit when everyone is equally supported and rewarded in their efforts to build new and better products and processes. But for Thomas, Sybilla Masters, like so many women, would have been lost to history. For far too long, women and people of many diverse backgrounds have been intentionally excluded from the activities of invention, business, and the ownership and rewards of their own work. Mastersfund is chartered to source, fund, and champion diverse founding teams with at least one woman in a position of strategic and operational control.

  • quotation mark

    It takes both men and women to set things right, and both genders benefit when everyone is equally supported and rewarded.

Latest News

More news

MASTERSFUND | A global gender-lens investment fund | World Trade Center Seattle, 2200 Alaskan Wy #410, Seattle, WA 98121

Privacy Policy | Legal Notice

Privacy Settings
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy
Youtube
Consent to display content from - Youtube
Vimeo
Consent to display content from - Vimeo
Google Maps
Consent to display content from - Google
Gillian Muessig
Managing Director

Start-up Development, corporate growth, M&A. Co-founder and CEO of Outlines Venture Group, Active entrepreneur, co-founded both Moz and brettapproved. Global thought leader in diversity venture capital and early stage corporate governance. Worldwide speaker on financial benefits of gender lens investing, equity in entrepreneurship, emerging entrepreneurial markets and the impact of global trends on startup activity. Board director & advisor on four continents. Has helped thousands of companies to launch, grow, pivot and thrive. Tech advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Founder & co-host of CEOcoach Podcast.

Anne Kennedy

Anne Kennedy
Managing Director

Branding, marketing & global networking. Founder, entrepreneur, board director and advisor worldwide. Founding director of Helium.com, acquired by RR Donnelley and now the RRD Content Network. One of the earliest and most respected names in global digital marketing. Pioneer SEO, launched Zillow, Philips Lifeline, and other household names onto the web, building the world’s largest consortium of digital marketing agencies. Author of Global Search Marketing. Co-host & producer of CEOcoach podcast.

Kathleen Baxley
CFO

30 years of experience in CFO/advisory services to early-stage startup founders, for a compelling, financially based rationale for growing their businesses, building custom scale-up forecasting models, capital structure analyses, market size assessments, pitch review and other strategic services, as well as coaching on financial literacy. A both sell and buy side equity analyst JP Morgan and Oppeheimer. MBA from Stanford University and BA from Colgate University.

Nate Doran - Mastersfund Venture Partner

Nate Doran
Venture Partner

VC startup deal maker since 2011. Managed investment process for three funds, sourcing thousands of companies. Led screening, due diligence, term negotiations, and accepted director seats. University of Michigan Data Engineer, University of Hawaii Researcher, US Air Force veteran. MBA University of Washington, MA Sociology from the University of Hawaii, Bachelors of Sociology at Hawaii Pacific University. Actively makes a positive difference fostering profitable businesses and technology.

Karen T. Cone, Masters Fund Venture Partner
Karen T. Cone
Venture Partner

Financial services & global corporate development. Global business leader and a recognized change agent, advising the Boards of innovative FinTech, software and consulting firms. Served as General Manager of the Worldwide Financial Services Sector at Microsoft, CEO of the advisory research firm TowerGroup, and senior executive at MasterCard, Gartner and IBM, opening new markets in Russia (then the Soviet Union) and China.

Robert M. Franklin III
Venture Partner

Investor and lecturer on innovation and venture capital at Rice University Jones School of Business. Consultant on CFTC/SEC derivatives regulations for investment banks and energy/commodities firms. Fintech focus with Houston Angel Network. Venture Fellow at Laconia. MBA from Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business. BS in Finance and Banking from Hampton University. Graduate of VC University: Venture Finance certificate program by National Venture Capital Association and UC Berkeley Law.

Walt Greenberg - Venture Partner - Sybilla Masters Fund

Walter Greenberg
Venture Partner

Over 25 years led financial services, payment card, and emerging technologies for multinational corporations and e-business start-ups. Expert evaluation, implementation and management of new business initiatives. Pioneered shared ATM networks and PC banking at Citibank (1980s), led MasterCard’s worldwide entry into chip cards and mobile commerce (1990s), including launches throughout Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Headed BankOne’s embryonic prepaid card.  Investor and advisor to multiple early stage start-ups. BA Physics/Econ, Rice University; MBA Marketing & Management of Technological Innovations, M.I.T. / Sloan School of Business.

Lakshmi Reddy
Venture Partner

20+ years of marketing and consulting experience helping teams thrive and companies gain a permanent edge through creative strategies, integrated tactics, and digital transformation. Career-wide strategy, marketing and transformation initiatives for brands American Express, Chapstick, Diageo, and Sanofi Pasteur, JP Morgan Chase, Citi and Medco. Recognized female advocate. Lehigh University BA in Environmental Science. International MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

Maureen Gilbert
Venture Partner

Over twenty years experience in SME M&A and turn around strategy. Manufacturing systems consultant for Marcam Inc. and Price Waterhouse in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Chicago with expertise in CPG.  International Banker for ABN AMRO bank in the Netherlands focused on Risk Management.  MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and BA in Developmental Economics and Asian Studies from Georgetown University.

Vani Rao
Advisors

President, Tower Capital Group. CFA Charter holder, Master’s Degree in Financial Engineering from Kent State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from New York University. Seasoned in promoting capital access to entrepreneurs to build healthier economies. Vice President of Product at Lighter Capital, working with data and funding analytics for early stage companies. More than a decade of investment banking experience, in capital markets and structured products at BBVA and KeyBank.

Petr Johanes, PhD
Playful Emprise

20+ years cumulatively serving on Boards of private tech and finance companies, 15+ years speaking at conferences and publishing in journals related to family offices, academic research, education, and finance, and 10+ years running his family office. Operates at the intersection of finance, psychology, and technology. Seamlessly combines being an award-winning engineer, researcher, teacher, and storyteller who has contributed to the birth of three fields of academic research (education, nanomaterials, AI & philosophy) with being a founder, fund manager, and strategic advisor across multiple fields of technological and financial innovation.

Richard Swart PhD

Richard Swart, PhD
Family Office Advisor & Impact Investor

Longtime board/strategic advisor to organizations, private family offices, and asset allocators on asset allocation for sustainable investing models and inclusive capital. Founding member of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society. SDG Impact Circle Fellow. Fellowships, board seats, and research appointments at UC Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. Recognized for work on FinTech, alternative finance, and crowd innovation. Advisor to large funds, major international foundations, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Fortune 50 companies, the World Bank, national governments.

Carlee Price headshot

Carlee Price
Advisor

Financial strategy & execution. Director of Finance (CFO) of Whistler BC, CEO Pique Financial Works, seasoned investor, advisor, board director, & tech entrepreneur. Extensive experience on Wall Street in fiduciary roles. Transitioned to Private Equity and Angel Investing in 2013, served as due diligence lead on many seed-stage deals, as well as Advisory Board member & interim CFO.

Janis Dubno
Advisor

Managing Director at the Sorenson Impact Institute who leads the Impact Finance team. Led the Department of Education’s Pay for Success initiative for the Obama Administration and Advised HRSA on MIECHV Pay for Outcomes. As adjunct professor taught at the finance department of the Gore School of Business at Westminster College and the economics department at the University of Utah. Over 40 years of experience spanning structuring innovative financial transactions using big data, impact finance and outcomes-based financing.