Mentorship
Part of our Empowering Equity commitment for diversity and inclusion
Mentorship
Part of our Empowering Equity commitment for diversity and inclusion
The Empowering Equity Mentorship and Mentorship+ programmes aim to support aspiring and early career female fund managers by providing advice and connecting them with more experienced peers.
This is a joint initiative of the EIF, the EIB, and the European Union under the #InvestEU Advisory Hub. Together we want to make the EU ecosystem more diverse. This is why we are helping new generations of fund managers enter the industry.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Coming soon: a new generation of our Mentorship support on your (one-off) question about venture capital, private equity, and private credit ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Our updated form will allow you to submit a query and get an expert advice back from our teams ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The new generation of our Mentorship support is available to provide answers or advice to your (one-off) question about venture capital, private equity, and private credit investing ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Use our dedicated form and get advice from our teams ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The new generation of our Mentorship support is available to provide answers or advice to your (one-off) question about venture capital, private equity, and private credit investing ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ Use our dedicated form and get advice from our teams ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Meet the mentors
Eleni Bathianaki
Managing Partner at Halcyon Equity Partners
Eleni joined Halcyon Equity Partners, a Greek private equity fund managing over €180M in 2023. With 25 years of experience in investment banking, strategic advisory, and private equity, she was previously a founding Partner at EOS Equity Partners and held senior roles at Piraeus Bank and Morgan Stanley.
She is a mentor at Endeavor Greece and a Member of the Board of Directors in the Desmos, a Non-profit Foundation.
Nora Bavey
General Partner at Unconventional Ventures
As Cofounder of Unconventional Ventures, Nora focuses on backing impact-driven tech startups founded by diverse leaders. Her journey from brand strategist to tech entrepreneur to investor underscores her commitment to diversity, equity, and sustainability.
Nora was recognised as one of the TOP100 most influential figures in Startup and Venture in 2024 and 2025 in Europe, and Sweden's Investor of the Year.
Ben Blume
Partner at Atomico
Ben leads investments in AI-driven enterprise automation across functions, and vertical solutions for complex, real-world industries, including platforms that combine software and hardware.
Ben has a strong interest in sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare, where impact is tangible and measurable.
Atomico partners with ambitious tech founders at the earliest stages through to IPO.
Simone Brummelhuis
Partner at Borski Fund
Simone is an entrepreneur, founding partner and managing partner of Borski Fund, a VC fund investing in technology leaders and diversity. She previously founded The Next Women, providing access to capital, programs, resources and networks for female entrepreneurs, and is founding investor and director of The Next Women Crowd Fund. Simone is also supervisory board member of Royal Schiphol group, Rabo Amsterdam and Media Huis Nederland.
Zoe Chambers
General Partner at Frontline Ventures
Zoe has a background in law, investment banking and venture capital. As part of the Frontline Ventures team, she is looking to back the best entrepreneurs in Europe at the earliest stages. Zoe has been working with B2B software companies at pre-seed and seed stages in Europe and at growth stage in the US.
Zoe is passionate about innovation that advance female healthcare, as well as climate tech initiatives.
Letizia Coradeschi
Investment Director at Grasham house
Letizia is part of the Grasham House Energy Transition division, contributing to the firm’s credit investment strategy. She serves as Chairman of the Board in a portfolio company of the European Energy Efficiency Fund, an investment vehicle funded by the EU. She became part of the Gresham House team in January 2026 following its acquisition of SUSI Partners, which she had joined in 2018, and worked in investment banking before.
Filip Dames
Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures
Before becoming an investor, Filip built and scaled multiple ventures. He first founded a digital marketplace for art and collectibles, then joined the founding team of Zalando, where he focused on product, business development, and international expansion. He is especially drawn to founders pushing the frontier of technology - from AI to deep tech and breakthrough products. Filip partners with visionary teams like The Exploration Company, robeauté, and Proxima Fusion to help turn bold ideas into the next generation of category-defining companies.
Simona Gemeneanu
Partner at Morphosis Capital
Simona is co-founder of Morphosis Capital, a growth fund focused on SMEs in Romania. Over the past 7 years with Morphosis Capital, Simona has been primarily responsible for the fund strategy, origination, deal execution and portfolio management, with board position in EMI Romania. In addition, Simona is the designated ESG partner and deals with matters related to investor relations.
She has over 20 years of experience in private equity, finance, strategy, and M&A roles in Bucharest, Paris, and London.
Dan Lupu
Venture Partner at Earlybird
At Earlybird, Dan is focusing on investments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). His Romanian roots give him regional familiarity which he combines with extensive local and international connections. Dan has built up a distinctive portfolio connecting Eastern European technical excellence with global markets and capital. Prior to his current role, he was a Partner with Earlybird Digital East Fund, where he invested in the likes of UiPath, Minit, Photoneo/Brightpick, FintechOS, DCSPlus, FITE etc.
Deepali Nangia
Partner at Speedinvest
After starting her career as an investment banking analyst, Deeplai moved to investing in growth-stage financial institutions and finally turned to the venture world as an angel investor in female-funded technology companies. As member of Speedinvest's ESG Committee, she is a Partner in the Middle East, Africa, and Beyond investment team. She also leads Gender and MicroGP initiatives, which have invested in around 20 first-time fund managers – 50% of whom are female and diverse GPs.
Bettine Schmitz
Partner at Auxxo Female Founders
Tine is a believer in the unharnessed potential of female founders. She previously worked as a strategy consultant, product manager, accelerated nearly 100 companies at Axel Springer Plug and Play and has made nearly 20 angel investments. A trained mathematician, Tine loves to crunch numbers, preferably in her weekly focus sessions. Out of these sessions Tine loves to spend her time cooking and eating with family and friends, on her road bike or on her yoga and meditation mats.
Barbara Ellero
Partner at Anthilia Capital Partners
In Anthilia since 2013, Barbara pioneered the private debt market in Italy. Before joining Anthilia, she spent nearly 18 years in corporate finance in leading investment banks, developing extensive experience in advisory and private capital.
Marie Bursaux
Investment Director at Eiffel Investment Group
Marie joined Eiffel Investment Group in 2019, from Aviva Investors where she worked as a portfolio manager within the Private Debt & Real Assets platform, looking after financing and restructuring of corporates, infrastructure, and assets financings.
