23 women investors who made partner or higher at VC firms in 2025
2026-01-02T10:00:02.469Z
- The venture market may have slowed in 2025. Women still moved up.
- The list highlights women in investing roles who became partners or rose to higher titles in 2025.
- Dealmakers work at firms including Khosla Ventures, Greylock, Lightspeed, and Bain Capital Ventures.
Women are still climbing the venture ladder, though the ladder has gotten harder to climb.
The share of women decision-makers at big venture capital firms stayed flat at 17% in 2024, according to a PitchBook analysis of firms managing $50 million or more.
Institutional investors who put money into venture funds held back in 2025 despite a rebound in startup exits. When firms take longer to lock in new money, they often slow hiring and get stingier with titles, as it’s easier for them to justify new seats and promotions after a close.
US venture firms raised $45.7 billion across 376 funds through the third quarter, putting the industry on track for its lowest annual haul since 2017, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Fund managers took a median of 15.6 months to close a fund, up from 9.7 months in 2022, PitchBook found.
For women — a minority of dealmakers — the chill can feel even colder. And yet, women continued to advance. The list below highlights women in investing roles who became partners or rose to higher titles in 2025, at firms including Khosla Ventures, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partnersand Bain Capital Ventures.
Business Insider listed investors alphabetically by firm name.
Did we miss anyone? Contact this reporter via email at mrussell@businessinsider.com.
Enterprise software investor Sallie Jian joined the deals machine at Alumni Ventures as a partner.
Sallie Jian/LinkedIn
Abby Meyers was promoted to partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Her portfolio now includes five unicorns.
Bain Capital Ventures
Claire Biernacki has been made a partner at BBG Ventures. She joined the firm straight out of Columbia Business School.
BBG Ventures
Bessemer investor Mary D’Onofrio, who backed Anthropic and Canva, joined Crosslink Capital as a partner.
Bessemer Venture Partners
Feyza Haskaraman joined Felicis as a partner. She holds a master’s in mechanical engineering from MIT.
Happy
Pre-seed fund Hustle Fund boosted Haley Bryant to partner.
Hustle Fund
London investor Shamillah Bankiya built her career at Dawn Capital and became a partner.
Dawn Capital
Shreya Shekhar joined Greylock as a partner after working at three of its portfolio companies.
Greylock
Khosla Ventures elevated investor Katie Mishra to partner. She’s also a competitive poker player.
Katie Mishra/X
Amber Yang joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as a partner. There, she invests in highly technical founders.
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Monica Black joined LL3 Ventures as a managing director. The new firm is backed by private equity royalty, the Leichtman Levine family.
LL3 Ventures
Chicago-based firm M25 kicked off its 10th year with a partner promotion for Abhinaya Konduru.
M25
Melody Koh expanded her role at NextView Ventures to lead the firm’s AI and data initiatives as a partner and chief product officer.
NextView Ventures
Vanessa Larco and Mercedes Bent teamed up to raise a fund backing consumer companies, called Premise.
Vanessa Larco/LinkedIn; Lightspeed Venture Partners; Business Insider
Kerry Wei has been made a partner at Prysm Capital. She led the firm’s investment in vibe coding tool Replit.
Prysm Capital
Victoria Zuo has risen to partner at QED Investors, where she invests in fintech and commerce companies.
QED Investors
Jayni Shah helped launch Revenant VC, a fund focused on venture secondaries, as a general partner.
Jayni Shah
Serena Ventures welcomed Sharla Grass as a partner. She was previously a principal at Greycroft.
Serena Ventures
Based in Seoul, Minjoo Kim was promoted from principal to partner at Storm Ventures, a software investor.
Storm Ventures
Lauren Epstein joined Storytime Capital as a general partner to invest in the future of work.
Storytime Capital
Luisa Sucre joined Sunna Ventures as a general partner. She was previously a principal at Collaborative Fund.
Luisa Sucre/LinkedIn
Unshackled Ventures, a firm backing immigrant founders, promoted Shaherose Charania to partner.
Unshackled Ventures
Leyla Holterud joined Israel-based firm Vintage Investment Partners as a partner.
Vintage Investment Partners
