Why it matters:
- More women founders are turning to angel capital investors for startup finance.
- Celebrities like Halle Berry and other successful women are becoming angel investors to help close the gender gap.
- Startups that have found funding success serve an underserved market, reflect a clear return on investment to potential venture capitalists, and have a management team with the expertise needed to grow their businesses, Berry and other investors told CO—.
It's not every day that an entrepreneur gets a random phone call from a celebrity angel investor intrigued by her startup's new product. But that's exactly what happened to Colette Courtion, Founder and CEO of Joylux, an eight-year-old company that makes feminine products for peri and postmenopausal women.
In April 2023 Courtion got a call from actress Halle Berry's manager after Berry had tried her product — the vFit, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-designated health and wellness device to improve feminine health powered by red light technology — and loved the results so much she invited Courtion to a meeting at her home in Beverly Hills, California, to learn more about her company.
"When I picked up the phone and heard that Halle Berry wanted to meet, I was stunned," Courtion recalls. "I couldn't believe she was so keen on my product and was interested in my business. I had no idea the movie star was an angel investor."
[Read: Emotional Rescue: (Unexpected) Brands Are Building Wellness Into Marketing Plans]
Actress turned investor/startup founder Halle Berry: 'This is my second act in life'
That's because Berry's angel activities are not well publicized. Berry has her own wellness company called RESPIN and devotes a lot of her time funding and mentoring startups in the health and wellness and other industries when she is not busy with her acting career. A 58-year-old mother of two with type 2 diabetes, Berry wants to make a difference in people's lives by funding innovations that can address many common health problems she and other people face.
"It's my second act in life," said Berry, who has already invested in six companies, including Pendulum Therapeutics, a maker of glucose control probiotics. "And I want to back startups that focus on common health issues that are not being well addressed. Menopausal health is one area that's been overlooked by the medical community."
Berry's meeting with Courtion led to a partnership and an undisclosed investment in just six months. Today, the acclaimed Academy award-winning actress serves as a brand ambassador and co-product developer for Joylux, a company that garnered $20 million in annual revenues in 2024, thanks to sales through over 1,000 doctor offices, as well as such retailers as Bloomingdale's, Goop, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Ulta in the U.S.
Women angel investors offer critical backing for women-geared startups
As Courtion explains, none of her success would have been possible without the backing of angel investors like Berry and others over the years. But finding angel investors in the early days to provide seed money so she could develop and clinically test her product was not easy.
It wasn't until she went to women angel investors that she got capital to jump-start product development from Barbara Boxer of Belle Capital and Trish Costello of Portfolia in 2016. Since then, Courtion has raised over $20 million from over 300 female angels, including Berry; Dr. Kathy Fields, the founder of Rodan & Fields; and angel venture capital funds that back female founders, including Mindshift Capital and GingerBread Capital.
Courtion's funding challenges are not unique. Women garnered only 2.2% of all venture capital raised in the U.S. in 2023 and 2024, according to Carta.
Recognizing the trend, many successful female celebrities, executives, and entrepreneurs are rushing in to close the gap by becoming angel capital investors who focus on funding women-led startups in a wide range of fields — from healthcare and wellness to software and climate tech. These are accredited investors with a net worth of at least $1 million who have earned at least $200,000 in each of the past two years.
'It's my second act in life,' Halle Berry told CO—. 'And I want to back startups that focus on common health issues that are not being well addressed.'
Over the past 10 years, this phenomenon has grown momentum as these wealthy individuals focus on paying it forward. According to the Angel Capital Association, today 40% of all angel capitalists in the U.S. are now women, up from 5% in 2013. Recent estimates suggest that U.S. angel investment activity is about $24 billion a year, contributing to the growth of about 70,000 startups each year nationwide.
Founder of fintech startup Funding U: You can find out within the first two minutes if an investor is leaning in or leaning out
When it comes to raising financing, "it's a numbers game," according to Jeannie Tarkenton, the Founder and CEO of Funding U, a fintech lender of student loans to undergraduate students without credit or a cosigner at eligible four-year colleges.
Since 2017, she's raised $1.5 million in angel finance and $22.5 million in venture capital from such investors as Kristina Montague from the JumpFund.
"You have to be willing to knock on [as many] doors as possible and remain confident even if you get rejected," Tarkenton said.
As she explained, you can find out within the first two minutes if an investor is leaning in or leaning out if you stay attuned to their reactions.
"Not everyone is a good fit for what you are looking for. After all, besides providing money, they are mentors and business partners that will help you develop the right path towards growth."
In Tarkenton's case, investors like Montague continue to help her grow her business by serving as advisers and championing her fintech business through Montague's funding network.
According to Montague, to boost the odds of success when fundraising, it's important to conduct due diligence on the investor you are pitching and know their sweet spots.
"Check their portfolio to see what type of investments they like and ask yourself, 'How can they add value to my business?'"
If you are lucky, and they show interest in your business, get ready for a deep dive into your company, she said.
"They will look at all aspects of your technology, product, team, financials, and any contracts you have. It's the next level in the dating process."
[Read: How 3 Franchise Entrepreneurs Built Multimillion-Dollar Businesses]
The do's and don'ts of raising capital from angel investors
According to JoyLux's Courtion, it's really important to have a clear focus on how you intend to build the company, market your product, and have an exit strategy so investors know how they will get their money back. That is the key to getting angel investors to untie their purse strings.
"Investors want to make a return on their investment, and right from your first pitch, you have to make that exit strategy clear," she said.
Jo Ann Corkran, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Golden Seeds, one of the oldest angel networks that support female founders, agreed.
"One of the biggest mistakes founders make when pitching angels is spending too much time focusing on their technology, product, or service and not enough time on their business strategy and how they intend to grow the company," said Corkran.
Another mistake entrepreneurs make is trying to raise money without a team in place or a strategy to build a team in the future.
"Starting a business is a team sport, and investors want to see that founders have contractors or advisers they can hire with the functional expertise needed to grow their company," Corkran added.
Montague, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of The Jump Fund, agreed.
"Angel investors are looking for the strength of the management team that can pull a company forward and meet growth metrics."
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