Entrepreneurs

We invest smart money – capital and expertise – in extraordinary
women (co)founded start-ups at pre-seed or seed stage.

Diverse, dynamic and highly motivated to invest

We write cheques (~£50-£100k) enthusiastically and under a single entity to help you reach your fundraising target.

We run a highly structured and collaborative due diligence process designed to move quickly to conviction.

We are a community of experienced operators who are able to offer help and add value to your business.

Join us

Meet us

Funders and Founders: CEO of Deployed, Emma Rees (far left) and CEO of Byway, Cat Jones (far right) with HERmesa investors: Ncheta Dasilva (second from left) and Eda Leka (second from right)

Criteria to apply

The product is technology enabled or has significant IP protection (post-MVP)

For B2B companies:
at least 2 paid for pilots

For B2C companies:
at least 1,000 average monthly users
(and/or at least £1000 in revenue over the past month)

We will occasionally look at post-product pre-revenue businesses but have a strong preference for start-ups with initial traction

We look for companies where the woman co-founders have significant equity and significant decision making role(s)

You are eligible for EIS/SEIS tax relief

Apply for our next pitch event

Meet us

Community Led

We are proud of our collaborative community of operators and entrepreneurs.

01

Beyond capital, the entire HERmesa community supports our portfolio companies as advisors, advocates, consumers and door openers

02

We invite all our founders to participate in the HERmesa People's Lab, a 6-week program designed to help founders develop as leaders

03

HERmesa appoints a "Lead Angel" for every deal to streamline communication with the investor group and provide high value / low admin support from your angels

04

We provide many opportunities for our portfolio founders to learn from and support each other.

We are proud to support a growing portfolio of exceptional women-led start-ups

Support

Fundraising resources for women

There are some great organisations supporting women on their fundraising journey. The below companies have excellent free content and also run strong fundraising readiness programmes.