Funder Profile: Nisa Amoils, Penn Law ‘95
Nisa Amoils is an active angel investor, board advisor and entrepreneur. She has been investing in Fintech/Blockchain and Crypto companies and has been an early stage investor in disruptive technologies for the past decade. Nisa was named one of Business Insider’s “Women VC’s to Watch”, one of the Top 100 Women in Fintech, and a Top 50 Global Blockchain Thinker.
Nisa is a securities lawyer and serves on the Boards of several institutions including Wharton Entrepreneurship and Girls Who Invest. She has been a contributing writer to Forbes and hosts the Coinscrum Markets show. Nisa is a regular judge/panelist on CNBC, MSNBC and Fox and does podcasts on investing.
Prior to investing, Nisa was an entrepreneur and spent many years in business development and strategy at companies like Time Warner and NBC Universal and the Anderson Kill PC law firm. She holds a business degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Penn.
Nisa is the author of WTF is Happening: Women Tech Founders on the Rise. In this book, she profiles a dozen female founders whose work will make a profound difference in the way we live tomorrow. It’s meant to provide a new appreciation of the extraordinary strides being made in disruptive technology by female entrepreneurs who are building a new world. A recent review on Amazon — “What a fantastic read and Nisa is brilliant at showing the problems women tech founders face and what the opportunities are in the venture world. The insight provided by the women interviewed in the book is invaluable and this is a must read for any women who are trying to rise through the ranks in the tech space.”
How did you break into venture capital?
As an angel
How do you get conviction around an investment?
At the early stage the team and timing
What percentage of your portfolio is invested into companies with at least one female founder?
30%
What is the last company you invested in and why?
Iomob — building protocol for mobility and carbon offset
What is one trend you’re bullish on in the next 10 years and why?
Web 3 and many applications of blockchain to solve real problems
Do you have any advice for aspiring founders on how to create a persuasive and effective pitch deck?
Do research on investors
Tell us about a time when things went wrong with a founder/investment? What happened and what did you learn from it?
Lack of grit means no investment
What is one piece of advice you consistently give to female founders?
Stop apologizing
