Capital F Unveils $17M Inaugural Fund to Empower the Future of the ‘Female Economy’

Capital F, one of the few all-female-led venture capital firms, announced on Wednesday that it has successfully closed its first fund at $17 million.

The firm is dedicated to investing in companies within the “female economy,” which focuses on markets influenced by women’s purchasing power. Co-founder Margaret Coblentz mentioned that this primarily covers three main sectors: women’s health, digital commerce, and AI tools. She noted that the latter is becoming increasingly essential as “women are disproportionately affected by trust and safety violations,” according to fellow co-founder Dawn Dobras.

Coblentz and Dobras have worked together for three decades, with Dobras previously serving as CEO of Credo Beauty, a clean beauty retailer, and spending time at Gap before working at Charlotte Russe. Meanwhile, Coblentz also worked at Charlotte Russe before launching her own luxury knitwear brand, which achieved success.

Coblentz shared that the two decided to come together and form a firm after observing the absence of women in high-level executive roles throughout their corporate careers.

“If you had asked me maybe 15 years ago, ‘Are you going to go into venture?’ I’m not sure I would have said yes,” Coblentz reflected. After their corporate careers, they began angel investing and realized the significant influence of “who writes the check and who owns the company.” Their partnership started nearly 17 years ago at Charlotte Russe, leading them to believe that their second collaboration would also be fruitful.

This partnership led to the creation of Capital F, inspired by their favorite words starting with the letter F. As Dobras puts it: “Words like future, fund, fantastic, and, of course, fill in the blank.”

During their fundraising journey, they hosted salon events across the country aimed at encouraging more women to take up investing, resulting in almost 80% of the fund’s LPs being women. Notable LPs include Jenny Ming, CEO of Rothys and former head of Old Navy; Marta Benson, former CEO of Pottery Barn; and Linnea Roberts along with her firm, Gingerbread Capital.

“We found that women are often not invited into the rooms where investment decisions are made,” Dobras stated.

Dobras further explained that Capital F waits to support a founder until they have consulted with at least two of their LPs. “These relationships often evolve into advisory roles, board memberships, and further investments,” she elaborated, “and, most importantly, they lead to numerous sales introductions.”

Raising this fund was not without its hurdles. “We always joke about writing a book,” shared Dobras. They faced challenges being relatively new fund managers. “The individuals who backed us and wrote those checks came from those salon events,” she noted.

In the last ten years, there has been extensive discussion about the need for investment in technology addressing women’s issues, like women’s health, which have historically been neglected and underfunded. Coblentz pointed out that these conversations have spurred innovations that are starting to make a difference. They highlighted portfolio companies such as Malama, which offers doula support for Medicaid recipients.

The firm has invested in 13 companies, mainly in the early stages, writing checks that range from $250,000 to $1 million. Their portfolio includes the telemedicine startup Hey Jane, the period-and-cycle-tracking platform Stardust, and Big Sur AI, which was acquired by Google last year. “That was an exciting LP letter to write because we hadn’t even closed the fund yet and we’d already had an exit,” Dobras remarked.

They expect to fully deploy the fund by the end of 2027.

This article was updated.