Organization:Pipeline Fellowship

Overview

The Pipeline Fund Fellowship (PFF) or Pipeline Fellowship is an angel investing bootcamp for women philanthropists with a goal of increasing diversity in the U.S. angel investing community and creating capital for women social entrepreneurs. The program includes three components: education, mentoring, and practice. The Pipeline Fellowship aims to diversify the investor pool and connect women social entrepreneurs with investors who understand them.

Purpose

In 2012, only 22% of U.S. angel investors were women and only 5% were minorities, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.
The Pipeline Fellowship, an angel investing bootcamp for women, works to increase diversity in the U.S. angel investing community and creates capital for women social entrepreneurs.
Since launching its first angel investing bootcamp in April 2011, the Pipeline Fellowship has trained over seventy women, who have committed more than US$350k in investment, and has expanded from New York City to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C..

The Pipeline Fellowship Team

NATALIA OBERTI NOGUERA

FOUNDER & CEO (​current)

Dubbed “The Coach” by Marie Claire, Natalia (aka Ms. Oberti Noguera) is Founder and CEO of Pipeline Fellowship, an angel investing bootcamp for women that’s changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women social entrepreneurs. Natalia holds a BA in Comparative Literature & Economics from Yale. She has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Mashable, Reuters Money, TechCrunch, The New York Times, and Fast Company’s Co.Exist Change Generation series. Natalia was named to the Forbes list “Top 20 Women for Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter,” as well as Latina.com’s “25 Latinas Who Shine in Tech.” Women’s eNews recognized her as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century for 2012 and Business Insider included her on its 2013 list “The 30 Most Important Women in Tech under 30.” You can find Natalia on Twitter (@nakisnakis).

JULIA SMITH ​(current)

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER

Julia Smith has been collaborating with Pipeline Fellowship Founder & CEO Natalia Oberti Noguera since 2010, when they teamed up to produce a well-received NYC-based TEDxWomen event that live-streamed the inaugural TEDWomen Conference and created a platform for nine diverse innovators to share their stories. In addition to her work with the Pipeline Fellowship, Julia serves as the Community Development Manager for NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network, after having launched her Chicago-based consulting practice. Previously, Julia worked at Idealist.org as a Communications Manager and co-founded 826DC, an education nonprofit. You can find her on Twitter (@juliacsmith).

Lauren Abele (past)

FOUNDING COO

As Founding COO, Lauren was part of the initial launch of the Pipeline Fellowship and assisted in building the program’s foundation since its first angel investing bootcamp in April 2011. During her tenure, the Pipeline Fellowship trained over seventy women—who committed more than US$350K in investment—and expanded to multiple cities across the United States. Lauren helped establish the Pipeline Fellowship as a leader in training women to become angel investors, as well as creating capital for women-led for-profit social ventures. Prior to the Pipeline Fellowship, she worked in the nonprofit and public sectors in economic development, environmental issues, and women’s empowerment. Lauren received her BA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MPA from Indiana University’s School for Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA). She is also a proud School for International Training (SIT) alumna. You can catch up with Lauren on Twitter (@laurenabele) and at about.me/laurenabele.

Investments

Pipeline Fellows are looking to invest in women entrepreneurs building tomorrow’s The Body Shop, Honest Tea, method, Seventh Generation, Warby Parker, and Zipcar.
Some of the women-led for-profit social ventures that secured funding from Pipeline Fellows after presenting at a Pipeline Fellowship Pitch Summit include:

CISSÉ

Cissé (pronounced “see-say”) is about creating connections through discovery. Because when we connected award winning recipes and socially responsible business values, we discovered that Cissé can do two great things—satisfy your senses and your sensibility. We invite you to discover the delicious organic, Fair Trade cocoa powder we hand selected in the Dominican Republic. We encourage you to connect with the cocoa farmers by scanning the QR Code on the back of our packages to write them a message. With Cissé, you’ll discover that pastry-chef-quality treats aren’t so hard to make. And don’t forget—connect with your family and friends to share your yummy, homemade goodies!

DAYONE RESPONSE

DayOne Response, Inc. developed and supplies the DayOne Waterbag™ addressing the vital need for clean water in disaster relief. The DayOne Waterbag™ is a patented water treatment device, which is specially designed to expand the usefulness and safety of the P&G Purifier of Water sachets. The DayOne Waterbag™’s unique features provide all essential functions of clean water provision in a personal backpack that is effective, easy-to-use, and compact to ship. Through this revolutionary technology, DayOne Response is saving lives in disaster areas worldwide.

GREEN LIFE GUIDES

The Green Life Guides connects eco-conscious consumers with the information and products they need to live a greener life through a series of life-stage and event-based websites. The company’s first site, Green Bride Guide is the preeminent green wedding resource. In May, 2013, the company launched Green Mom Guide to connect parents with the resources they need to keep their kids happy and safe.

HAPPILY EVER BORROWED

Happily Ever BorroWED is the premiere online wedding shop that rents designer bridal accessories worldwide at a fraction of the retail price. Partnering with designers such as Enchanted Atelier & Justine M. Couture, they have curated a special collection of veils, tiaras, headpieces and jewelry. Aimed at reducing waste in the wedding industry, as well as breaking down financial barriers, Happily Ever BorroWED works with brides across the United States and beyond.

PHILANTECH

PhilanTech creates and provides technology to help social sector organizations do what they do … even better. Through innovative online products and services, PhilanTech helps organizations maximize social impact while minimizing environmental impact. The PhilanTrack^® online grants management system helps funders and grant recipients streamline the grants administration process to focus more resources on program and service delivery. PhilanTech is proud to be a Founding B Corporation. B Corporations are setting the standard for social and environmental responsibility.

REPURPOSE

Repurpose makes products from plants, not petroleum. Repurpose is focused on developing, sourcing, marketing, and selling innovative high-quality plant-based compostable products in the consumer retail (B2C) market, which currently includes cups and utensils and will expand to trash bags, sandwich bags, and more. Welcome to a cleaner world.

SWEETRIOT

At sweetriot, we’re building a sweet movement to fix the world! We know you are looking for life’s best healthy delicious, on-the-go treats and snacks. You deserve a daily guiltless pleasure and that’s what we have created for you. sweetriot uses only all natural, healthy ingredients, and puts original artwork by emerging artists on every package. When you purchase from sweetriot, you’re supporting a women-owned company that is working to change the world! A riot never happens alone. Join us!

VOZ

VOZ, meaning voice, is the first fair trade fashion brand to unite international designers with weavers to co-design elegant, ethnic garments. We empower indigenous women and their art forms. In February 2013, we debuted at Elle’s New York Fashion Week event where we were the only ethical or ecological brand in their milieu. After providing design innovation training programs, our products stem from the artisans’ ideas, for which we award royalties, a system that we are scaling globally.

Pitch Summit

The pipeline fellowship pitch summit is an opportunity for invited women entrepreneurs to present their for-profit social ventures for a chance to secure funding.

Criteria

Companies eligible to apply to a Pipeline Fellowship Pitch Summit must meet the following four criteria:

a) Woman co-owner and/or co-founder

b) For-profit legal structure

c) Social and/or environmental mission

d) Duly organized and validly existing as a company in a U.S. state

Events

• February 2014

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CHANGING THE FACE OF ANGEL INVESTING INTERVIEW SERIES

SIGNATURE CONFERENCE

Q&A WITH PIPELINE FELLOWSHIP ALUMNAE

Pipeline Fellowship Founder & CEO Natalia Oberti Noguera is known for saying, “The numbers are low, but they're not zero.” In addition to its angel investing bootcamp for women, the Pipeline Fellowship increases visibility of more voices in the angel investing, venture capital, and entrepreneurship communities through a series of events.

SIGNATURE CONFERENCE

The Pipeline Fellowship Conference is an all-day event on angel investing open to the public. Invited speakers range from serial entrepreneurs to seasoned angel investors and VCs.

Some of our past Conference speakers include representatives from: 500 Startups, Acumen Fund, Astia, Black Founders, Criterion Ventures, Echoing Green, Golden Seeds, Goodwin Procter, Illuminate Ventures, RSF Social Finance, StarVest Partners, SoftTech VC, TechStars, and Tiger 21.

Pipeline Fellowship's Changing the Face of Angel Investing interview series spotlights women and people of color influencers who are doing their part to increase diversity in the angel investing, impact investing, VC, and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Q&A WITH PIPELINE FELLOWSHIP ALUMNAE

The Q&A with Pipeline Fellowship alumnae series is an opportunity to learn about a graduate’s journey into angel investing.