Bridging the Gap for Female Founders with Artemis Fund’s Diana Murakhovskaya

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Podcast starts - Bridging the Funding Gap for Female Founders

[01:07] Discovering Houston’s potential beyond the stereotypes

[05:05] Funding women-led startups with a female founded fund

[10:14] Understanding the care economy industry 

[17:52] Finding the solution to the diversity funding gap

[25:46] Looking ahead to the future of Artemis Fund

What inspired you to co-found Artemis Fund? 

Founded in 2019, Artemis Fund is the effort of Diana and her co-founders to diversify the face of wealth and support startups founded and led by women. After moving to Houston and struggling to find other women interested in investing, Diana knew that something had to change and an environment of women helping other women needed to be created. The gap in funding for female founders is still very wide, and Diana explains that part of the reason for that is that women investors are not in the room investing and making decisions with them.

“Female founders and co-founders still receive about 2%, it's really a small amount of funding. A lot of that is because there's just not a network and a decision maker that looks like them and understands them. Only 10% of decision makers at venture funds are women.”

Did you see different challenges for female-led startups when you moved to Houston? 

When Diana moved to Houston, the first thing she noticed was the lack of startup community. The second thing was the lack of women. As Softeq, WeWork, and other funds and accelerators began taking shape, Diana saw resources begin to open up for startups in Houston— but she still believes there is a long way to go. Diana still believes that a strong infrastructure for diversely led, female-founded startups is desperately needed in Houston. 

“I don't know if Houston was lacking female founders or not [when I moved here], but I think it was lacking a lot of this infrastructure that's being built now to enable them to really thrive. Now, [Artemis] has got three women-led companies based in Houston, which is great.”

You mentioned investing in care economy companies. What does it mean to be a care economy company? 

One area that Artemis Fund focuses on is the care economy industry. Beyond the necessity of child care, limited accessible and affordable care resources exist for adults, especially the elderly. Many adults end up taking on a massive financial strain in order to help their aging family members. Diana and the Artemis Fund see an opportunity to provide for people of all ages through investing in companies like NeighborForce, a care economy company that encourages neighbors to get involved in caring for seniors in their community. 

“We, as part of the sandwich generation, are taking care of kids and aging parents at the same time. The care economy itself is $650 billion and that's not just childcare. A massive portion of that is the elder care market, and not the medical side of it, but the actual care part.”

What do you see in the ecosystem in Houston that might be exciting or challenging for an investor? 

 Moving to Houston opened Diana’s eyes to seeing Texas beyond the cowboy hat stereotypes of the South. In her opinion, the diverse, welcoming environment of Houston is a major perk for anyone looking to move, invest, or found a company in this area. However, the challenge for Houston comes from those very same stereotypes Diana believed before moving to Texas, and Houston needs to find a way to tell its story on a grander scale. 

“[Houston] is just a really welcoming, no bullshit place, and I think that is a positive. I think the challenge is really marketing and branding for Houston itself. People don't really know what the city is about and what it stands for.”