In a move that will shock absolutely no one who has ever looked at venture capital stats, Capital F - one of the few all-female-led VC firms out there - announced Wednesday that it has closed its debut fund at $17 million. The firm is backing companies in the 'female economy,' which is a fancy way of saying markets where women drive demand. That breaks down into three buckets, according to co-founder Margaret Coblentz: women's health, digital commerce, and AI tools. The AI angle is apparently crucial because, as co-founder Dawn Dobras pointed out, 'women are disproportionately the victims of trust and safety violations.' Because of course they are.

Coblentz and Dobras have been running companies together for 30 years. Dobras was CEO of clean beauty retailer Credo Beauty, spent a decade at Gap, then moved on to clothing retailer Charlotte Russe. Coblentz also worked at Charlotte Russe before launching her own luxury knitwear brand, which eventually exited. After years at the executive top ranks, they realized that 'there weren't a lot of women there.' Cue the collective gasp.

Coblentz admitted that 15 years ago she wouldn't have predicted going into venture. But after their corporate careers, they started angel investing, knowing that 'who writes the check and who owns the company matters quite a bit.' They first worked together at Charlotte Russe nearly 17 years ago and figured, why not give it another go? The result was Capital F, named after their favorite F words: 'future, fund, fantastic, and, you know, fill in the blank.'

To raise the fund, they hosted salon events across the country for the 'VC curious,' and it paid off: almost 80% of the fund's LPs are women, including Jenny Ming (CEO of Rothys and former head of Old Navy), Marta Benson (former CEO of Pottery Barn), and Linnesa Roberts (of Gingerbread Capital). Dobras noted, 'We realized that many times women aren't invited into the rooms to invest in funds.' Shocking, truly.

Capital F doesn't back a founder until they've spoken to at least two of their LPs. Dobras said those relationships often evolve into advisor roles, board seats, additional investments, and, most importantly, 'lots and lots of sales introductions.' The fundraising journey had its ups and downs - they were new fund managers, after all. But Dobras said, 'Really, the people who supported us and wrote those checks came out of those salons.' They're even planning to write a book about it.

The firm has already cut checks to 13 companies, writing between $250,000 and $1 million each. Portfolio companies include telemedicine startup Hey Jane, period-and-cycle-tracking platform Stardust, and Big Sur AI, which Google acquired last year. That exit was a nice early win: 'That was a fun LP letter to write because we hadn't even closed the fund and we've already had an exit,' Dobras said. They expect to finish deploying the fund by the end of 2027.