What the new generation of women are investing in: from technology to luxury

Just one generation ago, financial freedom for women was more an exception than the norm. Today, the situation has changed significantly – though not equally in all parts of the world. In most democratic countries, women are increasingly participating in creating their own capital: building careers in technological fields, starting businesses, working in global companies, and reaching a new level of economic independence.

Therefore, the main question has long ceased to be, "Can a woman invest?", but rather, "What and why does a woman invest in today?".

A woman's investment portfolio is an entire universe. It is emotional, structured, intuitive, and at the same time mathematically precise. Previously, I wrote about investing in handbags, about which precious stones are worth buying, about multiplying capital through securities, and about investing in one's own development. This time, I propose to analyze the financial activities of women who are part of the global investment landscape.

One of the most significant for me personally is Theresia Gouw. She is one of the most famous venture investors in Silicon Valley. She was born in Indonesia, educated at Brown University, and later became the first female partner at the legendary Accel fund.

It was there that she was part of the investment team that worked with early technology companies, such as Facebook. And a few years later, under her leadership, Acrew Capital funds already managed one and a half billion dollars. In addition, she became one of the first to invest in technology projects that are changing finance and cybersecurity: Chime – a digital bank that simplifies everyday financial operations; Gusto – a service that automates payroll and HR processes for small businesses; Coinbase – one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world. Other investments include Bilt Rewards, which rewards rent payments, Vanta, which provides security automation for companies, and Klar, a fintech platform for digital banking outside the US.

In addition, Acrew actively supports companies working with network protection like Cato Networks, crypto security like CipherTrace, or new insurance models like Pie Insurance.

Personally, I believe that Theresia Gouw's greatest capital is her ability to see what our daily lives will be like in five or ten years. After all, she invests not in the market, but in the needs of people of the future. So, the activities of the company where Theresia works can be a great hint about where to invest money and what direction of activity to choose for stable development.

Another woman whose activities cannot but inspire is Carmen Busquets. Her actions directly show how unconventionally she thinks. Where investors see numbers, she sees the mood of a generation. Where the market calculates margins, she feels how the aesthetics of the era are changing.

Just imagine, in the early 2000s, when most fashion houses were still afraid of even the word "online," and the internet was slow and more of an exception than a rule for the average person, the Net-a-Porter website appeared. This project, created by fashion magazine editor Natalie Massenet, initially resembled a bold fantasy rather than a business model.

Natalie Massenet, a quarter of a century ago, believed that a woman should be able to buy a dress as easily as turning a glossy page. In her London apartment, she launched a website that combined luxury and technology, with a starting capital of £1.3 million. Natalie Massenet raised these funds through her husband, French hedge fund manager Arnaud Massenet.

Carmen Busquets saw the future in this idea. Busquets already had experience creating a fashion space in Caracas – the first gallery-design boutique in Latin America, which existed at the intersection of art and business. She perfectly understood that fashion is not just fabrics and silhouettes; it is a language through which society speaks about itself. And when Natalie Massenet invited her to support Net-a-Porter, Carmen became not just an investor, but a co-founder in the sense of the idea: she brought not only money but also the conviction that luxury was ready to enter the digital world.

Modern Net-a-Porter is much more than an online store. It has become a new fashion ecosystem, combining Vogue's editorial approach, a high level of service, and technological infrastructure.

Net-a-Porter has never been a public "stock market" company, so it does not have a classic market capitalization. However, its growth can be estimated based on the company's value at different stages.

For example, when the Swiss holding company Richemont offered to buy it for approximately £350 million in 2010, it was already a significant value for a young digital retailer that started with £1.3 million.

And a few years later, after merging with Yoox into the YOOX Net-a-Porter Group, analysts estimated Net-a-Porter alone at approximately €1.5 billion, which was a very significant figure for the online luxury market.

And although today Net-a-Porter operates as part of a large holding, such estimates clearly demonstrate how the idea of buying luxury online, which once seemed like a fantasy, has turned into a billion-dollar business with real global turnovers.

And last for today, but not in my heart – Wendy Yu. She grew up in Zhejiang province in China in a family of entrepreneurs and saw how business works from the inside since childhood. She received her education in Great Britain – at the London College of Fashion, and studied business disciplines at Cambridge and Columbia University. This combination: Chinese practicality and the British-American school became her personal investment "capital" even before the appearance of the first real millions.

The daughter of wealthy parents, educated at prestigious universities, she founded Yu Capital in 2015. This later grew into Yu Holdings – an investment platform that operates at the intersection of technology, fashion, culture, and the creative economy. It is not a fund in the classic sense: it is a private investment holding that Yu develops with her own funds and family capital.

Her first investments were in fashion brands that knew how to work with ideas, not just fabrics. She invested in Mary Katrantzou – a London brand that relied on digital prints and a new vision of aesthetics. In parallel, she invested in ASAP54 – a fashion search platform that later became part of Farfetch. These were not chaotic projects, but precise bets on brands capable of forming new cultural codes.

Gradually, Yu expanded her portfolio into technology. In China, she supported companies such as DiDi – the country's largest mobile transportation platform, and Tujia – the Chinese equivalent of Airbnb. Her investments demonstrate the ability to see not individual products, but changes in the behavior of millions of people – in how they move, live, and consume experiences.

Yu did not limit herself to commercial projects. She became an editor at Vogue China, and later – one of the key private patrons of the global fashion industry. Together with the Beijing Fashion Association and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, she founded the Yu Prize – an award that opens the way for Chinese designers to world catwalks. Winners not only receive funding but also participate in international shows and collaborations that were previously only available to large fashion houses.

The women I told you about today are very different, but their investments are similar in one thing: they don't build walls, they build horizons. They invest in technologies that change the way of thinking. In brands that set cultural directions. In art that gains value over time.

Dear readers, remember, the financial independence of the new generation of women is not a struggle for survival and not an attempt to catch up with someone. It is the ability to create your own system of coordinates, your own pace, your own portfolio. Because ultimately, a woman invests not only in assets. She invests in the life she wants to live. And this strategy always has the best profitability.