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Jessica Kamada, founder of Swizzle Ventures, speaks at a B.E.L.L.E entrepreneur event in Seattle. (B.E.L.L.E Photo)
Jessica Kamada does not have a traditional startups and venture capital background. And that’s exactly what helped her land $6.6 million for a new Seattle-based fund.
Kamada is the founder and managing partner at Swizzle Ventures, which plans to use its inaugural fund to invest in around 30 companies focused on women’s health and wealth.
“I didn’t go to an Ivy League school. I’m not coming out of a huge VC firm,” she said. “And so I really had to own the narrative of why different is better.”
Kamada raised more than double her initial goal for Swizzle — notable given the difficult fundraising environment, especially for emerging fund managers amid the recent venture capital pullback.
Kamada previously spent more than eight years at Bamboo, a Seattle-based marketing agency where she helped consumer tech companies scale their businesses, many of which went public or were acquired.
In conversations with potential Swizzle investors, Kamada leaned on her growth-related background as a key differentiator. She also pitched her thesis that women’s health is ripe with investment opportunity.
McKinsey recently reported that there is $1 trillion in economic potential “driven by improved women’s health and economic participation.”
Women manage a majority of discretionary spending but don’t feel that existing products and services meet their needs, according to a Boston Consulting Group report.
Kamada also pointed to a growing body of new research going toward women’s health.
“The opportunity to capitalize on this market that’s just going to go up is huge,” she said. “We’re excited to be on the ground floor of that.”
Another trend playing in Swizzle’s favor — perhaps counterintuitively — is the current political environment, amid uncertainty around women’s healthcare and the push against DEI.
Kamada said it’s sparking potential for innovation in areas such as maternal care and remote patient monitoring.
She said she saw more interest from investors following the U.S. election results in November. And one of Swizzle’s portfolio companies that is building a social search platform for women has seen a big spike in recent new signups.
Swizzle has already invested in 10 companies out of its first fund, including Seattle startup Trellis Health, which graduated from Techstars Seattle in 2023 and focuses on pregnancy tracking.
Other Swizzle-backed companies include Mavida Health, a maternal mental healthcare provider, and Alinea, an AI investment management platform for Gen Z women.
Kamada said she’s excited about AI spurring more opportunity for personalization in healthcare. “The ability to take a ton of different variables and map it to a personalized protocol for you — it’s a game-changer,” she said.
Swizzle’s average check size is between $100,000 to $200,000. The firm invests in companies across the U.S.
Swizzle has one venture partner, Ashley Lieser, a healthcare industry veteran with leadership experience at companies including WPS, Optum, Prospero Health, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Limited partners investing in the fund include former execs at Providence Health; professional athletes from the NFL and WNBA: and growth leaders at Meta, Google, and Uber.
