The Malaysian-born investor and entrepreneur is using her influential voice to address the barriers that hold female founders back
Years ago, as an ambitious 25-year-old in Sime Darby Berhad's corporate venture capital unit in Malaysia, Sarah Chen-Spellings' first big win was negotiating a US$30million-deal in line with the publicly listed conglomerate's investment in later-stage biotech companies. Surrounded by people who were almost twice her age at the time, she recalls savouring the opportunity to rise to the occasion and not quite internalising the high stakes nature of what she was doing.
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“I was naive–I didn’t realise what a big deal it was, but I just did the best that I knew how,” says the Washington D.C.-based entrepreneur. “Was I ever afraid? Not really. For me, it was always just figuring out what was the next thing and just trusting in yourself that you will make mistakes, but you’ll figure it out from there.”
A sought-after speaker, strategist and commentator on venture capital, startups and women in leadership, Chen-Spellings co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, known today as Beyond The Billion, the world's first and largest global consortium of venture funds and limited partner investors that have pledged to invest and are actively deploying over US$1 billion in women-founded companies.
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The award-winning entrepreneur and King's College London law graduate has been featured in Fortune, Bloomberg, and the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders, living out her mission to create lasting impact in everything she undertakes. From a young age, she had a knack for rising to the occasion. At the age of nine, she was chosen to be a TV host for a local station–an opportunity she would have nearly missed had it not been for her father's encouragement.