Angelina YangFounder and Host, TwoSetAI · AI builder for visibility and discoverability

Women Only Get 2% of VC Funds — She Started a Fund Anyway | Mercedes Bent, Partner@Premise Ventures

25 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this interview, Angelina Yang speaks with Mercedes Bent, a partner at Premise Ventures, about the stark gender imbalance in venture capital and the broader dynamics shaping startup funding. Mercedes notes that women comprise only about 2% of CEOs in VC‑backed companies and that female founders face stacked odds. She highlights the shift in Y Combinator’s recent batches toward enterprise (80‑90% B2B) and the minuscule share of VC capital (around 6%) allocated to consumer startups in 2024. Mercedes outlines her founder‑first investment thesis, emphasizing founders who are urgently dissatisfied, resource‑magnetic, and eager to learn. She discusses the challenges all‑female founding teams encounter, urging them to outperform consistently. The conversation also touches on Mercedes’s concerns about a potential AI bubble, mentioning that she has seven reasons why it could burst. Throughout, the dialogue blends data‑driven observations with personal experience as a woman launching a VC firm.

Chapters

I was an aspiring founder-to-be 3 years ago. I watched every single YC video on YouTube. One of the key takeaway was do B2B and don't try consumer.
YC's latest batch is like over 80% enterprise, something like 70 or 80, or I think it might even be as high as 90%. 6% of VC funding went to consumer startups in 2024. The model I always go after is founder-first, somebody who's urgently dissatisfied who is a resource magnet, is a learning animal. Yes, 2% of the CEOs of VC-backed companies are women. It's pretty abysmal. If you are a woman founder, CEO, the odds are already stacked against you. I love investing in consumer because I think it's so hard. It's like the Olympics every day. All female team. Not because I think that's how the world should be, but that's just what the numbers say. Like me and my co-founder, we're both women and we're You guys are so dumb for starting a VC firm as two women. We really need a guy in here. The market is not friendly to all-female teams. Don't go totally heads down. Show up and be like twice as good all the time. I have like 7 reasons that I think the AI bubble could get popped.