Bio - Katie Palencsar

Katie Palencsar is a thought leader in early-stage company building, venture studios, and the female founder investment ecosystem. She currently serves as Managing Director, Global Head of Venture Studio at Anthemis. She leads the Female Innovators Lab Fund in partnership with Barclays, investing in early stage female founders in fintech. Since launching the fund at the end of 2019, Katie has led its global expansion and AUM growth, now investing across North America, UK and Europe.

Previously, she founded and led data SaaS company, Unbound Concepts, from ideation to exit. The company’s data services were used by global distributors as well as privately owned and publicly traded publishers in addition to providing free software tools to over 40,000+ educators. Upon acquisition by Certica Solutions, she served on the executive team leading Solutioning, collaborating with key clients on enhanced product integrations and new product offerings. Certica Solutions was acquired by Instructure, one of the largest global Learning Management Systems.
 
Bringing her track record and a keen eye for going from zero to one, Katie established her own advisory business with a focus on advocacy for entrepreneurs, which included working with retired NFL athletes on their new business build-outs, partnerships, and monetization of their content portfolios. She also advised Maryland State Legislation for investment in female and minority-owned businesses that was successfully passed in 2019.
 
Katie is the recipient of the 99u General Electric Emerging Innovators Award, Drexel University Alumni Educator of the Year Award, SmartCEO’s Voltage Award and listed among the Women in Fintech Powerlist; her work has been featured in Fast Company, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal.
 
Katie lives in the world of idea to execution which has led to new businesses, products, programs, teams, initiatives, revenue streams and investment opportunities within a myriad of industries.