Jenny Abramson

Jenny Abramson is the Founder and Managing Partner of Rethink Impact, which describes itself as the largest US-based venture capital firm investing in female leaders using technology to solve the world's biggest problems in health, education, financial services, and the environment. She launched the firm in 2015 after seeing firsthand, as a startup CEO, that female founders were receiving only a small fraction (~2%) of overall venture dollars. Through her Stanford network she recruited co-founder Heidi Patel, a pioneer in impact investing, as her investing partner.

Before founding Rethink Impact, Abramson was CEO of LiveSafe, a mobile technology company focused on preventing school shootings, sexual assaults, and other threats. Earlier in her career she held leadership roles at The Washington Post and at Personal (a personal-data technology company), and worked at The Boston Consulting Group. In education, she oversaw the Transformation Management Office for D.C. Public Schools under Chancellor Michelle Rhee and served as Director of Strategy & Development at Teach for America.

Abramson holds bachelor's and master's degrees, both with honors, from Stanford University; an MBA with honors and the Dean's Award from Harvard Business School; and was a Fulbright Scholar at the London School of Economics. She has been named to Forbes' Impact 50 (2020), Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 Powerful Women, and recognized as a D.C. Tech Titan.

She sits on numerous portfolio and nonprofit boards, including Bold, Candidly, EveryDay Labs, Seven Starling, Wellthy, Parallel Learning, Ellevest, and Winnie, as well as NFL Players Inc. and the Jacobs Foundation, and serves as a board observer at Nectir.

• Gender lens is the core filter: Rethink backs companies led by female CEOs (or, in some cases, women in other C-suite roles such as CTO, COO, CRO, or CFO). Its stated belief: "The next generation of extraordinary companies … will find success through their relentless pursuit of mission, for the benefit of all communities."
• Impact-oriented sectors: Digital health, education, economic empowerment / financial services, and environmental sustainability — "female leaders using technology to solve the world's biggest problems."
• Stage & checks: $2M–$10M checks (sweet spot ~$6M), leading or co-investing in Late Seed to Series C rounds.
• Traction bar: Prefers companies with $500K–$15M ARR on a credible path to $50M–$100M in five years — capital-efficient B2B / B2B2C software and marketplaces.
• Model: Combines financial returns with measurable impact; frequently co-invests alongside firms such as General Catalyst, Obvious Ventures, Magnify Ventures, Pear VC, and Everywhere Ventures.