Sarah Chen

Sarah’s career spans across venture capital (VC) and innovation, in Asia and the US. She is Co-Founder of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, a global consortium of venture funds that have now pledged to invest and are actively deploying beyond $1 billion towards women-founded companies, to begin to address the venture investment gap where women founders receive less than 3% of total VC funding. Going Beyond The Billion, her mission is now to catalyze capital deployed to these venture funds, ensuring their continued capacity to invest- by mobilizing LP commitments, convening LPs and connecting them to GPs who invest in venture-backable companies founded by diverse women founders.

Previously, she pioneered a corporate venture capital unit within $13Bn publicly traded Asian conglomerate, Sime Darby, investing in later-stage biotechnology companies. Since then, she has been at the forefront of multi-million cross border investments, structuring and executing commercialization plans for her portfolio companies. Named Forbes 30 Under 30, she is a recognized speaker and adviser on VC/innovation and women in leadership, having been featured among others on Der Spiegel, the Wall Street Journal, and at the United Nations.

Driven by a mission to fuel women's ambition, power and influence, she currently sits on multiple boards including 131 & counting, a bipartisan effort backed by Bloomberg Government and Holland & Knight to fete the unprecedented number of women serving in the House and Senate in the US and encourage more qualified women to run for office; and Lean In Malaysia, which she co-founded, a platform accelerating women into leadership, recognized as the voice of credibility for professional women issues in Muslim- majority Malaysia. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Laws, LL.B (Hons.) from King’s College London. A proud Malaysian, she spends her time between the US- Asia.

To find out more: www.beyondthebillion.com
@sarahchenglobal on all handles; www.sarah-chen.com

Most Popular

How female founders and investors are shaking up venture capital