Rewriting the Rules: How Women Investors Are Transforming Venture Capital and Angel Investing
tl;dr
Women investors like Genevieve LeMarchal and Cecilia Castelo are changing, who gets funded and why, bringing purpose and inclusion into venture.
LeMarchal’s Suncoast Ventures targets overlooked, healthcare problems hiding in plain sight and builds trust between founders, payers, and policymakers to drive adoption and outcomes..
Castelo went from curious newcomer to confident angel, showing how investing can be empowering.
In the world of venture capital, where bold visions and billion-dollar bets often dominate headlines, two women are quietly and powerfully redefining what it means to invest.
For Genevieve LeMarchal, General Partner of Suncoast Ventures, investing isn’t about chasing hype or chasing Mars. It’s about addressing the “health problems hiding in plain sight”, issues so obvious and so urgent that their neglect seems absurd.
And for Cecilia Castelo, an angel investor who began her journey with hesitation but grew into conviction, investing isn’t just about returns. It’s about self-education, empowerment, and proving that women belong in these rooms, even if society has long told them otherwise.
Together, their stories shine light on a larger truth: women investors are changing not only who gets funded, but also how and why.
Genevieve LeMarchal: Betting on the Problems “Hiding in Plain Sight”
LeMarchal leads Suncoast Ventures with a radical focus on healthcare, not the flashy, futuristic kind, but the urgent, overlooked kind.
Take endometriosis, for example. Millions of women live with the condition, yet the average time to diagnosis is twelve years. The only definitive test is an invasive surgery, often paid out of pocket. The consequences ripple through families, careers, and lives. “It’s one of the stupidest things in the world,” LeMarchal says. “The problem isn’t invisible, it’s just ignored.”
Her fund backs entrepreneurs tackling these trillion-dollar problems, the ones health systems are desperate to solve but often lack pathways to innovation. “We don’t need to be focusing on how to make people healthy on the way to Mars,” she notes. “If you want returns, the opportunities are right here in our healthcare system.”
What sets Suncoast apart is not just what it funds, but how. LeMarchal is building a community where entrepreneurs, health plan executives, and policymakers sit at the same table, not once a year at a pitch event, but in ongoing, trust-driven relationships. “You can’t just drop in with a shiny solution,” she says. “You have to understand how the system works and who inside that system is willing to take a risk.”
Her approach is deeply personal. A journalism major turned VC, LeMarchal has no medical degree or technical background. Her strength lies in community-building, in creating the “dongle” that connects entrepreneurs with healthcare systems that desperately need change but fear being burned by failed innovations.
In a venture world obsessed with technology, she strips the hype away: “The solution isn’t technology. It is an outcome. It is cost. It’s building trust.”
Cecilia Castelo: From Curiosity to Conviction
Cecilia Castelo’s journey into angel investing began, fittingly, over a coffee at her children’s school. That’s where she first met investor and mentor Silvia Mah, and where a casual conversation about what Mah did for a living opened a door Castelo hadn’t even known existed.
“She told me, This is a risky arena, and most of the time you won't see returns. It’s about giving back, about learning, about community,” Castelo recalls. “And that really resonated. We had similar stories, both Latina, both lost our fathers, both inherited something small but meaningful. I was curious to know what this world was about.”
At the time, Castelo had spent nearly two decades as a stay-at-home mom, managing her household but not the family’s finances. “I wasn’t from tech or finance,” she says. “I got married young, raised my kids, and for 20 years, my focus was home. But when I started having more time, I wanted to explore something new, something that was mine.”
Mah encouraged her to start small, joining angel groups like the San Diego Angel Conference and Portfolia. At first, it was intimidating. “The imposter syndrome was real,” she laughs. “Sometimes I’d sit there thinking, I don’t know anything about this. But then I realised, the only way to learn is to show up.”
Over time, curiosity turned to confidence. Castelo began making her own individual investments and discovered that angel investing offered more than financial return; it offered empowerment. “It’s like investing in myself,” she says. “I get to learn, to be part of innovation, to stay connected to what’s happening in the world,” which fuels my entrepreneurial nature.
Now, she’s passionate about bringing more women, especially those managing households or family wealth, into the investing ecosystem. “There are so many women who can invest but don’t see themselves in the room,” she says. “They think it’s for men, or that they don’t know enough, they don't have enough money. But we already make the financial decisions at home, why not in startups, too?”
Her message to them is simple but powerful:
“Take power over your money. Don’t let anyone else make decisions for you. It’s okay to be afraid; just start learning. It’s rewarding, it’s creative, and it’s confidence-building. Plus,” she adds with a smile, “it’s a lot more interesting than talking about shoes.”
Her mission now is to change that, to invite more women in, even if slowly, even if one conversation at a time.
Two Sides of the Same Shift
LeMarchal and Castelo stand at different ends of the investing spectrum, one managing a venture fund with institutional reach, the other navigating angel networks and personal investments. Yet their stories echo the same themes:
Redefining expertise. Neither woman fits the stereotype of a traditional investor, and neither sees that as a weakness. Instead, they build value through perspective, community, and conviction.
Investing as empowerment. For both, investing isn’t only about financial returns. It’s about agency, self-belief, and reshaping systems that haven’t served women well.
Changing the culture. Whether by bringing health plan executives into taco lunches (LeMarchal) or by nudging friends to consider angel investing (Castelo), both are creating cultures of inclusion where women’s capital can flow more freely.
The Future They’re Building
The future of venture isn’t only in mega-funds or Silicon Valley hype. It’s in the networks of trust, the overlooked trillion-dollar problems, and the women who are redefining how and why money moves.
LeMarchal is preparing for growth and expansion fund, doubling down on healthcare problems too big to ignore. Castelo continues to invest while encouraging more women to see themselves as investors.
Both believe the tide is shifting. More women are stepping up, more investors are breaking traditional molds, and more communities are being built around capital with purpose.
As Castelo puts it: It’s rewarding. And it’s a soul calling.”
And as LeMarchal proves: when women take the lead, the rules of investing aren’t just rewritten, the future gets healthier, fairer, and more inclusive.
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