Female Founders & Investors Brunch at #SFTechWeek — Hosted by Mercury Raise
This event is currently at max capacity.
A big part of the Mercury Raise mission is to connect great startups with investors in our network. Not only do we achieve this through tools like Investor Connect, but this year we’re providing a dedicated space for female founders and investors to connect over brunch at SF Tech Week.
Whether you’re a founder or an investor, you can expect ample opportunities to make new connections and spark valuable conversations. When you register, you’ll have the option to opt into curated introductions based on your goals and focus areas, helping you take your company to the next stage.
Special guests, Christina Li, Investor at FPV Ventures, Abbie Strabala, Investor at True Wealth, and Chelcie Taylor, Investor at Notable Capital, will share a few words about their funds, investment theses, and the key things they are looking for right now.
Meet your host: Mercury
Mercury lays the groundwork for ambitious companies to operate for excellence with banking and credit cards* engineered for the startup journey. With a powerfully smooth product experience, founders and finance teams can manage and safeguard their money with fewer hurdles, thoughtfully meet the needs of a scaling team and business, and receive expert guidance from those who have successfully navigated their challenges before. More than 200K startups choose Mercury to perform at their highest level.
*Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard.
Special Guests
Christina Li, Investor at FPV Ventures
Christina is a founding investor at FPV, a $450M early-stage fund that backs and serves mission-driven founders, where she focuses on SaaS, infrastructure, and fintech with a special interest in hybrid go-to-market motions. FPV was founded in 2022 by Wesley Chan, early product leader at Google and Forbes Midas List investor, and Pegah Ebrahimi, former CIO and COO at Morgan Stanley and Cisco.
Previously, Christina was Head of Product at Cisco, where she led a team of designers and engineers to find product market fit for Vidcast, an enterprise video content management platform. Today, Vidcast is used by over a million users from SMBs to large blue-chip enterprises. Christina was also Chief of Staff for the Collaboration business, a multi-billion dollar business unit spanning six product lines, where she led special projects in M&A and international expansion.
Prior to Cisco, Christina was an investor at Spero Ventures and Omidyar Network. Christina began her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, where she worked on over $30B of M&A transactions and debt and equity raises.
Chelcie Taylor, Investor at Notable Capital
Chelcie Taylor is an investor at Notable Capital, where she focuses on application software including enterprise, vertical SaaS, SMBTech, and AI. She currently holds six board/observer roles, including Arteria AI, Heard, Realm, Stream, Pinwheel, and Mindee. In addition to her leadership of Notable’s AI application initiative, Chelcie oversees the firm’s annual SMBTech 50 list, showcasing the most promising private companies building for SMBs. Chelcie’s contributions extend to the broader VC ecosystem—most notably with AllRaise and BLCK VC, organizations that provide resources to support the advancement of underrepresented investors.
In 2024, Chelcie was selected as one of five recipients of the National Venture Capital Association’s Rising Star Award. Chelcie started her career in strategic and operating roles at Google, CBS, and MediaLink before pivoting to investing. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Abbie Strabala, Investor at True Wealth Ventures
Abbie is a Senior Associate at True Wealth, investing in early-stage women-led companies improving human and environmental health. She brings deep industry knowledge about impact investing, women’s health, and LGBTQ+ rights from prior roles in venture capital and philanthropy. Prior to joining True Wealth, she was a founding team member of the largest US-based impact fund investing in women’s health at RH Capital working in both operations and investment roles. As a representative of the next generation of female investors, Abbie is an active member in Women in VC, mentor with 500 Startups, StartOut and Venture Forward.
Mercury Raise Host
Alexis Wiseman, Program Manager at Mercury
Alexis Wiseman is a Program Manager at Mercury, where she creates fundraising tools and programs for startup founders through Mercury Raise. Prior to joining Mercury, Alexis worked on the investment team at Global Founders Capital, and as a Venture Partner at Contrary. She is an alum of Emory University and is based in New York City.
This event is a part of #TechWeek — a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. To explore more Mercury events during SFTW and beyond, visit our events page and subscribe to our Community newsletter.