Female investor group launched in Cedar Rapids

A new initiative aims to increase the number of women investors in Eastern Iowa.

The Iowa Startup Accelerator and Iowa Women Lead Change (IWLC) announced earlier this week the formation of a female investor group in conjunction with Pipeline Angels founder Natalia Oberti Noguera.

Oberti Noguera, based in New York, will be in Cedar Rapids April 26 for the IWLC Women's Leadership Conference, to be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton, where she is a keynote speaker. She will meet with accredited female investors to launch the Pipeline Angels program while in Cedar Rapids — the first chapter in Iowa.

'There's been a lot of progress, but there still is a long way to go,' said Eric Engelmann, president and CEO of Geonetric as well as founder and managing director of the Iowa Startup Accelerator.

The Iowa Startup Accelerator is a program that matches tech-based start-ups — especially those in agriculture, health, education, manufacturing and transportation technology — with mentors, seed funding and development expertise.

Engelmann said only about one-third of start-ups to go through the program have female founders, with even fewer female investors.

Pipeline Angels is not the first initiative launched to improve those numbers, Engelmann said. The Women's Entrepreneurship Collaboration Council, a coalition of more than 40 organizations, meets quarterly to promote and create resources specifically for Iowa's female entrepreneurs.

In addition, IWLC — a Cedar Rapids based not-for-profit that focuses on advancing women in Iowa — holds the Invest in She competition in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. Those events give female entrepreneurs and business owners the opportunity to pitch their business ventures to a group of investors.

Over the past three years, IWLC and investors have awarded more than $110,000 to 18 women entrepreneurs across the state.

'But this is an important piece of the puzzle,' he said.

Pipeline Angels — a network of new and seasoned women investors — holds boot camps in more than 30 cities across the country for new investors and a pitch summit for start-ups looking for funding.

The boot camps offer education, mentoring and practice to angel investors. Participants are matched with seasoned investors who share best practices and lessons learned.

To date, more than 180 women have graduated from its investing boot camp and more than 20 companies have secured funding from Pipeline Angels. Pipeline Angels has invested more than $1.7 million in women-led for-profit social ventures.

Increasing the number of women angel investors can improve the overall entrepreneur system in Iowa, Engelmann said, adding there is a strong correlation between women investors investing in women-owned businesses Engelmann said.

'As a man, I want to think that' men aren't more likely to invest in other men, he said. 'But you want to find someone who looks like you to help you with your business. That's true across race and gender lines.'