Linnea Roberts and Ita Ekpoudom of GingerBread Capital on supporting female investors and founders

Bet on more female founders. It isn’t charity. It’s an investing thesis.

GingerBread Capital was founded in 2016 by a veteran of the male-dominated investment banking industry. Now founder Linnea Roberts alongside Ita Ekpoudom are taking their Goldman Sachs bootcamp into early-stage investing.

The pair are the guests this week of “Off the Sidelines” — an investor education podcast produced by us at Technical.ly in partnership with Project Entrepreneur, a program by UBS. We’d heard before this season about the importance of building an investment practice around a contrarian worldview. With half a globe full of female consumers and far fewer companies led by them, a women-first portfolio counts as contrarian.

Both left the influential investment bank with a strong analytics grounding as well as an understanding of the communication style needed to effectively navigate the Old Boys’ Club.

Desiring to create more opportunities to support female entrepreneurs, Roberts retired from Goldman and founded GingerBread in 2016, and Ekpoudom joined the team in 2018. GingerBread is a fund focused on women-led companies that are past ideation and into the execution and growth stages, filling a gap often overlooked by larger financial institutions.

In addition to capital, GingerBread also provides support in the form of mentorship, education and networking. This holistic approach to cultivating ecosystems for women echoes the philosophy of Project Entrepreneur, which aims to improve the enabling environments for female founders and advance inclusive capital by diversifying the pipeline of investors and supporters.

While building their portfolio, GingerBread leaders believe that women-led companies are especially equipped to deliver success. As an underinvested segment of the market, there is more competition for available resources, and this increased adversity leads to stronger vetting and, in turn, stronger founders and companies.

It’s a powerful view, and it appears to be working for Roberts and Ekpoudom. After completing the bootcamp of the traditional finance machine, supporting the next generation of female investors and entrepreneurs should be a (ginger) snap.

Listen to the episode below to hear Roberts and Ekpoudom’s insights and advice, including why it’s sometimes easier to convince someone to write a check for philanthropy than investment (and how to flip that mindset).

Off the Sidelines — Ep 9 — Linnea Roberts & Ita Ekpoudom of GingerBread Capital

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