Marla Shapiro is the Founder of the HERmesa angel syndicate. Marla launched the group in early 2020 with two distinct missions:
•To give more women a seat at the table as angel investors
•To invest more money in women co-founded startups
She has grown the syndicate from 5 women to over 225 members and they have collectively invested in 32 rounds of financing in women led startups.
Prior to launching HERmesa, Marla worked for nearly 20 years for media & technology companies in operational roles as a strategist, business development director, sales lead and COO. The companies ranged from large multi-nationals, such as the Financial Times & Zee TV, to small media tech start-ups in the U.K. & Europe (companies from pre-seed to Series A stage). Marla spent the early years of her career working on Wall Street & the City at firms, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and NatWest, in structured finance roles.
Marla holds an MBA degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. She is a thought leader and frequent public speaker on gender led investing, early stage investing and the UK start-up scene. Marla is a dual national, American & British citizen, and lives in London with her Spanish husband and very, very English children.