Fundraising Tips And Investment Opportunities For European Female Founders: Gesa Miczaika of Auxxo

Why It Matters

Gender‑focused funds like AXO demonstrate that targeted capital can bridge Europe’s founder funding gap, delivering both alpha returns and societal impact while unlocking previously inaccessible family‑office money.

Key Takeaways

• German public register reveals all fund investors for outreach.
• AXO targets early‑stage European startups with at least one female founder.
• Fund II struggled more than Fund I due to limited LP pipeline.
• Female founders often build impact‑driven B2B solutions across Europe.
• Berlin, Munich, London, Paris, Stockholm concentrate most female‑founder activity.

Summary

The How I Raised It podcast episode spotlights AXO Female Catalyst Fund, a venture capital vehicle founded by Gesa Miczaika that backs early‑stage European startups with at least one female founder. The conversation covers the fund’s evolution from an angel pool in 2021 to a second institutional vehicle, its investment thesis—pre‑seed to seed tickets of €200 k‑€1 m for 3‑8% equity—and the stark gender gap in European venture capital, where women comprise roughly 20% of founders yet capture under 5% of capital.

Miczaika shares concrete tactics for sourcing capital, notably using Germany’s public register to identify family‑office limited partners and leveraging AI‑driven deal‑flow tools like Morphase to filter for female‑founder teams. She admits raising Fund II proved tougher than the inaugural fund because the limited‑partner pipeline was narrower, underscoring the need for clear branding and a simple investment criterion—any startup with a female co‑founder qualifies.

Personal anecdotes illustrate the fund’s mission: a cancer diagnosis spurred Miczaika’s pivot from consulting to impact‑focused investing, and her earlier angel work showed that 70% of deals involved women, delivering high‑quality pipelines to male‑dominated VCs. AXO’s portfolio clusters in Berlin, Munich, London, Paris and Stockholm, and the team is even contemplating a matchmaking platform to connect male founders seeking female co‑founders with the fund’s network.

For investors and founders alike, the episode highlights a growing niche: impact‑driven B2B ventures led by women that can generate both financial returns and societal benefits. Leveraging public registers and specialized AI tools can unlock otherwise hidden family‑office capital, while a clear gender‑focused mandate offers a competitive edge in a crowded European VC landscape.

Original Description

Produced by Foundersuite (for startups: www.foundersuite.com) and Fundingstack (for emerging manager VCs: www.fundingstack.com), "How I Raised It" goes behind the scenes with startup founders and investors who have raised capital.

This episode is with with Gesa Miczaika of Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, a venture firm that backs female-founded startups based in Europe. Learn more at https://auxxo.de/

In this episode we discuss the opportunity of investing in female founders, how the firm evolved from angel investing into a VC fund, tips for cracking into German family offices and raising capital from the European Investment Fund and much more.

How I Raised It is produced by Foundersuite, makers of software to raise capital and manage investor relations. Foundersuite's customers have raised over $21 Billion since 2016.

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