Female Funders: Golden Seeds' Laura Baldwin on Women Angels

Laura Baldwin brings more than 20 years of experience in finance, treasury, corporate development, and investor relations to Golden Seeds, one of the country’s largest networks of angel investors. Founded in 2005, the firm seeks and funds high-potential women-led businesses. It’s headquartered in New York City but has active chapters in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, and Silicon Valley—with active members throughout the country.

Baldwin, who is managing director of Golden Seeds, was recently featured in Dallas Innovates magazine along with 11 other women shaking up the future of startup investment funding in Dallas-Fort Worth. The female funder talks with us about the effects of the pandemic and increasing the number of female angels.

BALDWIN ON THE PANDEMIC

With the pandemic, it’s been really good to see more engagement from our members. We’re still witnessing a lot of deal flow nationally. Our members are investing, maybe not quite at the same level, but they remain interested in doing deals. None of us were sure how it was all going to work out, but we’ve seen a lot of really good companies during this time. It’s been more positive than we thought it would be.

ON BLACK LIVES MATTER

When everything started happening earlier this year with the Black Lives Matter movement and coinciding protests, we at Golden Seeds looked internally. We put out a statement focused on access to capital and diversity. What can we do to increase the deal flow for women of color?

ON NEEDING MORE WOMEN ANGELS

When it comes to increasing the number of female angels, I think it may just be a lack of education and awareness, and not knowing that these groups are out there. In general, there may be a lack of understanding of what innovative, game-changing angel investing is. The perception is that it’s risky. It’s important to get the word out that there are groups like Golden Seeds that are focused on women.

For more on female funders, go here to read about the 12 women shaking up the future of startup investment funding in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Interviews, as told to Jasmin Brand, are edited for brevity and clarity. A version was originally published in Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue.

Read it online

The 12 female funders were featured in our fourth annual magazine, Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue, highlights Dallas-Fort Worth as a hub for innovation.