Monique Moran’s Post

Just met with someone from the FBI 👀 - not for a good reason. We met b/c we've been pulled into an impersonation scheme 🙁. Scammers created fake accounts on various channels (Whatsapp, Line, X, Wechat, FB, Insta, Linkedin...) posing as my 'niece', someone affiliated with Cowboy VC, or me. They use a profile photo of an attractive young asian woman. 'She' cold DMs strangers, and builds a rapport with the target - often an elderly white man - messaging about life, and investing tips. The victim is enticed to invest in a crypto vehicle, and gets a quick return. Over time 'she' amps up the investment tips until the victim gains confidence to invest a big chunk ($75k to $Ms!) of their savings, and then the assets disappear😢. We learned about this when a wife cold messaged me to confirm my niece was helping her husband invest their savings. She was worried, but her husband was convinced and had wired much of their retirement 😢. We've since found many victims, and $Ms have been lost 😢. Online fraud of all kinds is a growing problem. We've learned our situation is a drop in the bucket, and elderly folks are being targeted in particular. Because they are embarrassed, many victims don't share, so there is low awareness. It's not obvious who to report the crime to, and authorities are likely swamped (it took a lot of legwork to get any response). IT helpdesk scams are also on the rise. Victims are convinced by phone, text or email their computer has been hacked, and share their passwords and/or move money to a fake service to 'protect' their assets. Fraud is also being perpetrated on dating apps and in all kinds of creative ways. We did learn some victims can get funds back, if they report quickly - it's easier to trace and try to recoup the funds. If you know of a case, please report it to the Internet Crime Center (https://www.ic3.gov/). We also notified social networks about every fake account we could find - that's also an important thing to do. Hoping the platforms will improve their responsiveness to this serious issue. Please be vigilant, especially when it comes to moving money or sharing PII. If you have a loved one who might fall victim, please share this with them. And if you see a fake account, please report it. (if you hadn't read, here's an example of the fraud system - important but v. depressing read. https://lnkd.in/gTFUraXv) Hope this will help more folks avoid falling victim to horrible and escalating scam efforts. 🙏

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Today, angel investing will become less accessible for women. In turn, female founders, like me, will suffer. New government regulations have raised the angel investor income threshold from £100k to £170k, disproportionately impacting the already limited pool of female investors in the UK. There are some regions where NO women earn over £170k! This change not only prices many women out of valuable investment opportunities but also exacerbates the existing funding gap for female founders, who currently receive only 2% of VC funding. As a young, female founder, who has raised almost $1M for my startup Clear, I fall into a small minority, and can attest to the difficulty of fundraising. Fundraising is hard for most, irrespective of how you fit into society, but it is clear from the data that women face additional challenges... Closing my round took over 200 meetings. Only 25% of my meetings were with female investors. When it came to those who actually invested: over 80% were women. In terms of dollars raised: more than 90% came from female investors. So, not only were women disproportionately more likely to invest in Clear, but they also invested larger tickets. I don't believe investors actively discriminate against women. Rather, I think that these experiences are due to industry mechanics and processes; investors have to make big decisions with relatively little data in a short amount of time, so cognitive biases will inevitably come into play. Here are the five that affect female founders the most: 1. Homophily: the tendency for people to seek out or be attracted to those who are similar to themselves. There are already too few female investors, and now, even fewer. 2. Comfort-zone: companies tackling problems faced by women are often built by women. These areas may be less familiar or less well understood by most investors, resulting in even more unknowns and an increased perceived risk. 3. Warm introductions culture: many investors will not respond to cold communication, so ability to fundraise is often tied with network. Investors traditionally come from a finance, tech, or startup background; these are also male dominated fields. 4. Representation bias: most existing, successful founders do not look like me. 5. Gender stereotypes: stereotypical feminine behaviour during a pitch has been shown to affect the outcome due to impacting perceived business competence, preparedness and leadership skills. The recent move to make angel investing less accessible will undoubtedly harm female founders like me, further widening the gender funding gap. It's crucial to address these systemic challenges for a more inclusive and equitable investment landscape. So, was this the right move from Jeremy Hunt? Vote in the poll below, and if you believe more women should have access to angel investing, consider signing the petition in the comments. #AngelInvesting #FemaleFounders #DiversityInVenture