The Inroad · No. 34
Look closer: The talk about diversity went quiet. So did the hiring and the funding.
Photographs by Jacobia Dahm
Only 15 percent of decision-makers at Europe's larger VC firms are women, and capital reaching all-female teams is at a near-decade low. From The Inroad No. 34, Julia Dous's letter from the three tables: talent, capital and community.
From The Inroad, No. 34, October 2026: Julia Dous's letters from the three tables, sent by email. Subscribe to read every issue in full.
For years I gave three different answers to "what do you do". To a GP I was the headhunter, to a founder the woman who runs the Evangelistas, to a co-investor the angel or LP with the small ticket.
All three are true, and the Inroad is where they finally sit at one table, presenting a woman's view of European VC land.
Look closer
Fewer women hired, fewer women funded. And the same excuse: there are none. Really?
Only 15 percent of the decision-makers at Europe's larger VC firms are women, and the share of capital reaching all-female teams fell to its lowest in nearly a decade. The talk about diversity went quiet in 2025. The sentence did not. I still hear it in my own executive searches, in fundraising rounds and on panel lineups.
On 23 September it met its answer: a full room in Berlin, our third Female Founders Fest, with founders in space, robotics, climate, biotech and fintech, and the angels and VCs backing them. Anyone who still says there are no women in this ecosystem was not there.
From the capital table
I write my own cheques, and relationships start before anyone "needs" them. The guest list for Female Founders Fest grew through nominations, and so does the Evangelistas Collective: 100 seats a year, the network of women shaping Europe's cap tables with their own capital. If you have made one startup investment and are an experienced angel, you likely already know a member. Talk to her first, because a referral is the best inroad, or apply for the last 30 seats of 2026.
One woman to know
Tatiana Shalalvand is the new partner at Cherry Ventures, arriving from the Nordics. Partner is the seat where investment decisions are made, and in European venture it is still one that very few women hold. A brilliant addition to the ecosystem, welcome. Read the announcement.
Read the full letter
The full issue carries one lesson from each of the three tables, talent, capital and community, plus one book and one room worth knowing this month.
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