Gwen Edwards

The event is being jointly led by AccelerateHER and Gwen Edwards, managing director (Silicon Valley) of US-based Golden Seeds, an angel investor group which backs high-potential, women-led businesses.

The mission is designed to provide a springboard to growth by sharing current market information and business insights and opening doors to new connections through the global AccelerateHER network. It will also give participants an opportunity to showcase their companies to key business figures and globally-focused angel investors from Silicon Valley and other regions of the US.

The programme includes masterclass sessions with leading US tech business figures and angel investors including Ron Weissman. Having worked with more than 40 venture-backed businesses and served on 20 technology company boards, Weissman has also acted as a key advisor to a number of tech giants, including Apple and Microsoft in his impressive career. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Angel Capital Association, the umbrella body for business angels throughout North America.

Other speakers during the three-day event include Bill Reichert, a partner at global venture capital firm Pegasus Tech Ventures; Daniel Glazer, an American technology lawyer, strategic business advisor, and founding partner of Wilson Sonsini; and St Andrews-born tech entrepreneur Duncan Logan, a Global Scot who is now based in Silicon Valley.

Attendees will also hear from Duncan Davidson, former Principal Technology Adviser at Microsoft who is now Technical Advisor to the CEO at Shopify; and Jaclyn Mason, Regional Director for Silicon Valley at the UK Government Department for International Trade (DIT).

In partnership with Scottish Enterprise, the event takes place from 7 – 9 February. The female business founders attending include former AccelerateHER Awards winners Sheila Hogan, founder of Biscuit Tin; Kate Cameron (Cytochroma); Fiona Gillies and Christine Hartland (SMASH); Rachel Jones (Snap Dragon); Monika Tomecka (uFraction8); Rebecca Goss (xgenix); Ash Penley (Zoex Power).

Other AccelerateHER-supported founders taking part include Ishani Malhotra of Carcinotech; Carmen Cummiskey (Fomo); Janani Prabhakaran (unbaggaged); and Danae Shell (Valla).

Jackie Waring, CEO of Investing Women Angels, the group behind AccelerateHER, said: “We’re delighted to be working closely with Gwen Edwards at Golden Seeds to deliver this latest trade mission to California, which remains the centre of global technology innovation.

“The event will support a range of innovative Scottish-based female-founded companies, giving them valuable insights and direct access to some of the leading figures from the US tech sector and the nation’s business angel investment community.

“I’m grateful for the support of our partners at Scottish Enterprise in helping make this event possible. We will be working alongside the participating founders from our AccelerateHER network to ensure the mission delivers value and ideally attracts further investment into their innovative businesses to help them help achieve their full potential.”

Gwen Edwards, managing director (Silicon Valley) of Golden Seeds, added: “Over the years we have developed an excellent working rapport with Jackie and her colleagues at Investing Women Angels, an organisation which shares our commitment towards supporting women-led businesses.

“My fellow US colleagues and I have been highly impressed with the innovation and commercial focus of so many Scottish-based, female founders. We’re delighted to be supporting this latest trade mission which will help connect this inspiring group of emerging businesswomen to some leading tech sector experts and angel investors.”