Jennifer Fonstad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University, Harvard Business School |
| Occupation(s) | Venture Capital Investor, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Owl Capital Group |
| Website | owlcapital |
Jennifer Fonstad is an American venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She is the managing partner and a co-founder of the Owl Capital Group, a venture firm based in Silicon Valley.[1] Fonstad was Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) for 17 years.[2] She is also co-founder of angel investing network Broadway Angels.[3][4][5] Fonstad has been recognized as a top 100 tech investor on Forbes’ Midas List twice[6][7] and was named 2016 Venture Capitalist of the Year by Deloitte.[8] She is also a Founding Member of All Raise.[9]
Fonstad earned a Bachelor of Science in International Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.[10] While a student at Harvard, Fonstad co-founded the New Venture Competition, an annual competition for HBS student entrepreneurs.[11]
Fonstad began her career at Bain & Company after spending a year teaching high school math in sub-Saharan Africa.[12] She joined venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson as a Kauffman Fellow in 1997 and became a partner in 1998.[13] Fonstad spent 17 years with DFJ, helping to grow the firm from $150MM to $3.5Billion under management.[14] Through her career Fonstad has participated in many successful investments including Athenahealth,[15] Tesla, Solarcity,[16] the Real Real, Chime Bank, Hotmail, Netzero, Box, Redfin, and others.[17]
In 2010, Fonstad and Sonja Hoel Perkins were among the founders of Broadway Angels, an angel investing network of senior women from the fields of technology and venture investing.[14][18]
In 2014, Fonstad co-founded Aspect Ventures, an early stage, all-female venture-capital firm, with fellow venture capital investor Theresia Gouw.[19] Gouw and Fonstad worked together early in their careers at Bain & Company and at Release Software.[20]
During the first year, Aspect Ventures made several Series A and seed investments funded by the co-founders' personal capital. Aspect secured $150 million for its debut fund,[21] which included outside capital from Limited Partners,[22] and followed it with a second fund of $181 million in early 2018.[23][24] It had 116 rounds of investments in 67 companies and had 13 exists.[25]
The firm made investments in companies including ForeScout (FSCT), Cato Networks,[26] Exabeam,[27] The Muse, Crew, Silverfort, Eden Health, Pie Insurance, and PredictHQ.[25]
The founders decided to split in 2019 over clashing management styles.[28][23][24] In the same year, both founders started new venture capital firms.
Fonstad launched Owl Capital Group,[23] which focused on early-stage startups.[29] Her current investments include Vida Health, Ohmconnect, Grokker, Stem.io, Roofstock, WelcomeTech, and Owlet.[30][31][32]
Fonstad serves on the Board of Directors of several private companies. She also serves on the board of the Mastercard Foundation, a $35B AUM foundation based in Toronto, Canada.[33] She is a Founding Member of All-Raise, a Managing Member of Broadway Angels, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[34][35][36]
At the Catalyst Conference 2017, she spoke at the Fireside Chat.[39]
Fonstad is a frequent media contributor on issues pertaining to women in tech, cyber-security, the future of healthcare and the venture capital industry. Her commentary appears in Fortune,[40][41] Fast Company,[42] Entrepreneur,[43] Re/code,[44] Yahoo Finance,[45] Forbes,[46] Bloomberg,[47] and CNBC.[48]