Katie Palencsar is an investor and thought leader in early-stage company building, venture studios, and the female founder investment ecosystem. Currently she is a Partner at Anthemis, where she also serves as Global Head of Venture Studio and leads the Female Innovators Lab Fund, 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 with backing by Barclays, Aviva, Visa and BMO and 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 both enhanced product integrations and new product offerings. Certica Solutions was acquired by Instructure, one of the largest global Learning Management Systems.
Katie was named American Banker’s Most Influential Women in Fintech in 2023 and is the recipient of the 99u General Electric Emerging Innovators Award, Drexel University Alumni Educator of the Year Award, SmartCEO’s Voltage Award, Women in Fintech Powerlist and a USPTO patent for Performing Dynamic Textual Complexity Using Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence. 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.
Experience
Unbound Concepts
Certica Solutions
John Hopkins University
Expertise
Business development
Business strategy
Brand building