European VCs and the Future of Funding Diversity with Leaders from Peak & Pink Salt Ventures

The European venture capital industry is constantly evolving, but there is one persistent challenge: a lack of diversity in funding. According to a 2022 Sifted report, the vast majority of funding raised by European startups in 2021 was obtained by male-led teams, and nearly all of these teams were composed of white founders. 

Join us for our upcoming panel discussion, “European VCs and the Future of Funding Diversity,” as we examine the critical issues and challenges for both VCs and entrepreneurs as they collaborate towards a more inclusive and diverse startup funding landscape.

The Full Conversation

Watch the Highlights

Here’s What We Discussed

• [01:40] Samira and Indra introduce themselves and share their backgrounds  
• [03:45] Deep Tech, Health Tech, and Generative AI: What’s on the horizon for European VCs 
• [07:00] The advantages and disadvantages that European startups and VCs have over global players
• 12:04  Navigating the changing landscape of investment activity and valuations 
• [16:41] Leveling the Playing Field: Addressing the unique challenges faced by underrepresented entrepreneurs with the help of VCs
• [24:26] How VCs Can use their resources to drive positive change in the startup community and beyond

Meet the Panelists

Samira Ann Qassim, Co-Founder & Partner at Pink Salt Ventures: Samira loves backing founders building the future at speed! She founded Pink Salt Ventures to capitalise on the untapped potential of female-led technology companies. Before building Pink Salt, Samira was a strategist and tech entrepreneur.

Indra Sharma, Partner at Peak: Indra is a partner at Peak, a European seed-stage venture capital fund investing in b2b Saas, platforms, and marketplaces. She’s based out of Stockholm, where she brings her expertise in the Nordics to the Peak community. She works closely with companies such as Breyta, Blidz and Melon.
Indra has an engineering background, starting her career as a quant and a developer and later moving on to the business side. She has an extensive background as an operator and was part of scaling Swedish payment house Bambora Group. Before joining Peak, she led investments in companies such as Lassie, Einride, and Natural Cycles.

Host: Paul Craven, Principal, EMEA, Ruckus: Paul brings a decade of recruitment and executive search experience in Europe and the US, with a passion for tech, startups and people. He has spent the last 3 years connecting executive talent with fast growing startups and is now focused on building the Ruckus presence in EMEA.

Based out of sunny Barcelona, Paul also enjoys family days at the beach, playing football and discovering the city’s best restaurants.