Building a social capital market in Asia. As one of the first female Bangladeshi investment bankers on Wall Street, Durreen Shahnaz came to appreciate the immense power of financial markets. She went on to roles at the World Bank and Grameen Bank. She launched, and sold OneNest, an e-commerce company that gave micro-entrepreneurs global market access.

Women-led Babel Ventures raises $30 million to back Latino entrepreneurs. The Bay Area fund is the second Latino-focused venture fundto launch this week. Both Babel Ventures and LEAP Partners are trying to bring more venture financing to an underfunded startup demographic. (LEAP announced the first two investments from its early-stage venture fund for Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. and Mexico). Babel Ventures stands out as a women-run fund; founders Bárbara Kunde Minuzzi and Daniela Arruda both previously raised funds for real estate and tech funds. Almost 90% of venture capital partners are men, and the share of women decision-makers in venture funds in the U.S. has actually gone down. “We don’t know the rules, so we are breaking all of them,” Kunde Minuzzi says. “And it’s working for us.”

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