High-profile investors join Daya Ventures’ community funding round: ‘We hit our first target in six hours’
Daya Ventures smashed its first target in just six hours, attracting high-profile investors including Dora Palfi, founder of Imagi and scout at Andreessen Horowitz's VC firm a16z. <br><br>The community funding round, aimed at boosting female ownership in tech startups, is now open to the public.
Swedish venture studio Daya Ventures has hit the ground running with its community funding round. Launched last week, the fundraise aims at boost female ownership in tech startups.
Hundreds of investors have already joined, with the first €250,000 goal reached in just six hours after the round opened on Friday, CEO Malin Frithiofsson told Impact Loop.
The studio has now extended the target to €500,000, with flexibility to go higher, and the round is also now open to the general public.
The round has already attracted several prominent backers, including Dora Palfi (founder of Imagi and a16z scout), Susanna Meza Graham (investor in Nothing, Hormona), Linda Waxin (founder at Ownershift), and Åsa Johansen, head of Women in Tech Sweden.
So far, 166 new owners have joined, the majority women. The group also includes former Wall Street executive Margarita Triantafyllidou, biotechnologist Oceane Kihlstrand, consultant Elena Aguilera from the Global Women’s Institute, and leading women’s health scientist Erica Perrier.
Boosting women ownership
Unlike a traditional VC fund, Daya operates as a venture studio, creating startups in women’s health and retaining a founding stake. Since 2021, it has built a network of 700 scientists, doctors, and engineers – the majority women – who co-develop startups, often contributing their expertise pro bono. The community round allows these experts, along with new investors, to become shareholders in the studio itself.
“Our community has been giving their time and expertise for free for years,” Frithiofsson previously told Impact Loop. “We wanted them to have a real stake in what they helped build.”
The initiative is particularly timely in a fundraising landscape that underfunds women-led startups. According to the Founders Forum Group, just 2.3% of global VC in 2024 went to female-only founding teams.
Pictured top: Åsa Johansen (left); Linda Waxin; Dora Palfi and Susanna Meza Graham.
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