From Capital to Community: Inside the Women’s Venture Summit 2025
A Bold Gathering With Real Impact
tl;dr
The Women’s Venture Summit 2025, hosted by Stella Foundation, united founders, investors, and innovators to close the funding gap and fuel women-led innovation, helping unlock over $200M in capital to date.
Andrea Muñoz, founder of My Village Innovations, won this year’s Women’s Fast Pitch, spotlighting how women are transforming maternal health through tech and community-driven care.
The Summit’s key message was clear: money is power, community is capital, and when women invest in each other, they don’t just build companies, they build ecosystems.
The Women’s Venture Summit 2025, hosted by Stella Foundation, was more than just a conference; it was a rallying point for women founders, investors, and changemakers determined to rewrite the rules of capital. Over three days in San Diego, voices from across industries came together with one mission: to accelerate women’s access to funding, amplify women investors, and strengthen the ecosystem where women-led businesses thrive.
Now in its 12th year, the Summit has already helped unlock more than $200 million in funding for women entrepreneurs, and this year’s event carried that momentum forward with renewed urgency.
From candid investor panels to interactive workshops, and from bold keynote moments to the highly anticipated Women’s Fast Pitch, the Summit highlighted not just the opportunities but also the grit, resilience, and creativity of women building in today’s business landscape.
Spotlight: Andrea Muñoz, 2025 Women’s Fast Pitch Winner
One of the most inspiring moments of this year’s Summit was celebrating Andrea Muñoz and her groundbreaking work at My Village Innovations, the 2025 Women’s Fast Pitch Winner.
Andrea’s journey is as inspiring as it is impactful. At My Village Innovations, she is reimagining women’s healthcare through technology and thoughtful design. Her company’s mission is to redefine the pelvic exam experience through innovative medical design that improves comfort, visualization, and care for women and providers alike.
Her recognition at WVS2025 underscored a powerful truth: when women innovate, industries evolve and communities thrive.
Andrea’s win also reflects the future WVS champions, women who are using innovation to not only build sustainable businesses but also shape systems of care, opportunity, and equity for generations to come.
Key Themes from the Summit
Across the sessions, several themes echoed loudly, reminders of both how far we’ve come and the work still ahead:
Meet Women Where They Are – Too often, the investing conversation starts at an advanced level. This Summit reminded us that accessibility and education are key to bringing more women into the investor and founder pipeline.
Money as Power and Agency – Again and again, speakers emphasized that money isn’t just capital, it’s choice, leverage, and legacy. As one panelist said, “Dreams without cash flow are ideas without fuel.”
Institutions Must Catch Up – While LPs and funds speak about diversity mandates, progress remains slow. The Summit called for accountability and for bold champions to push for structural change.
Boldness in Action – Andrea Holland captured the room when she declared, “Right now, women in business making money is the most rebellious thing we can do.” Her message was a rallying cry: use your platform, use your voice, that’s where the real power is.
What makes the Women’s Venture Summit special is not just the deals or the programming, but the community it cultivates. Founders left with new investors. Investors left with new perspectives. And everyone left reminded that progress is collective.
As Flossie Hall, CEO of Stella Foundation, has often said: “When women are given the tools, they don’t just build companies, they build ecosystems.”
Takeaways
Claim your capital, quietly or loudly. Whether $100 or $100,000, investing is not just financial; it’s a declaration of self-worth and possibility.
Invest in ecosystems, not transactions. Your network, mentorship, bridges to institutions, these may compound more than singular deals.
Name what’s tired. When you feel you must hide softness or feminine intuition, call it out. The double bind weakens us if left unnamed.
Rest so you can return bold. The work is relentless, and fear never fully disappears. But boldness is built through consistency
Show up, even when it’s hard. That may mean mentoring, speaking, funding, or simply being visible for others to see themselves.
The Work Continues
The 2025 Women’s Venture Summit was proof of that. From showcasing innovative founders to reshaping conversations around wealth, impact, and access to capital, the event reminded us that the future is already being built, and women are leading the way.
This year’s Women’s Fast Pitch featured six outstanding companies whose founders are redefining industries through innovation and purpose:
Andrea Muñoz, My Village Innovations
The call to action is clear: keep showing up, keep investing, keep raising your voice. Because when women gather, they don’t just participate in the economy, they transform it.
Related Content
