Girls Into VC 2026 Summit Deadline January 28th - We Can't Wait to See You

Hey GIVC community,

This week, we’re spotlighting new voices shaping venture, alongside major deals and conversations setting the tone for 2026. From founders building with conviction to investors backing long-term trends, this edition is about where attention — and capital — is flowing next.

Here’s what we’ve got 👇

🗂️ This Week’s Agenda

• Podcast feature

• VC Partner highlight

• GIVC Summit

• Deals of the Week

• Founder spotlight

🎧 Podcast Feature: Acquired

If you haven’t listened yet, Acquired continues to be one of the best resources for understanding how iconic companies are built and scaled.

Why it’s worth your time:

• Deep dives into company strategy, markets, and timing

• Excellent context for how investors think about durability

• Great complement to VC recruiting prep and founder learning

🎙️ Recent episodes on tech infrastructure and AI-backed businesses are especially relevant heading into 2026.

✨ VC Partner Spotlight: Claire Biernacki — BBG Ventures

BBGV Overview: BBGV invests for a polycultural future, backing founders with lived and learned experience who are building solutions to fundamental human needs across health, work, financial security, consumption, and lifestyle. We invest across two ends of a barbell: companies with deep technology leverage, where AI fundamentally reshapes economics or behavior and deep humanity, where emotion, taste, and trust drive enduring products people reach for regardless of AI.

Claire Background: Claire is a Partner at BBG Ventures, where she focuses primarily on healthcare and vertical AI. She joined BBGV as the first investment team member in Fund I while completing her MBA at Columbia Business School. During her time at Columbia, Claire worked at Lerer Hippeau and gained operating experience at early-stage startups including Studs and Koio. She also served as Co-President of the Columbia Venture Club. Prior to business school, she was on the investment teams at Pomona Capital and Cult Capital, after starting her career in investment banking at Bank of America.

🔊 Girls Into VC 2026 Summit: Last Week To Apply

The Summit will bring together 300+ founders, investors, and future venture leaders for a full day of access, insight, and connection. You’ll hear from leaders at 8VC, Alumni Ventures, Battery Ventures, BoxGroup, The Grommet, and more, and take part in:

• Keynotes and panels with top founders and VCs

• A live startup pitch competition with VC-style feedback

• High-impact networking across the venture ecosystem

📍 Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
🗓 Date & Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
📝 Apply by: Apply by Jan 28th, 11:59 PM ET to attend!

🔗 Register to attend: https://luma.com/bd5qxpea 

🔗 Apply to pitch your startup: https://lnkd.in/gWXccGpb 

🔗 Volunteer: https://lnkd.in/gFMN-Z3v

We can’t wait to bring this community together at Harvard. 💗

📈 Deals of the Week — Early-Stage Funding Highlights

🔥 Humans& — $480M Seed Round
AI startup Humans& raised $480 million in seed funding, valuing the company at roughly $4.48 billion. The round was led by SV Angel with participation from Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, GV, and others. Humans& is building advanced AI systems designed to enhance human collaboration and productivity, signaling continued investor appetite for next-gen AI platforms.

🎤 Ringg AI — $5.5M Series A
Voice AI platform Ringg AI closed a $5.5 million Series A led by Arkam Ventures, with backing from Groww Founder Fund, Cred founder Kunal Shah, White Venture Capital, and Capital2B. Ringg AI is focused on growing its voice interface and conversation AI stack for enterprise applications.

🧠 Bolna — $6.3M Funding Round
AI startup Bolna secured $6.3 million in funding from General Catalyst and others, including YC, Blume Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Transpose Capital, and Eight Capital. The funding will support expansion of its voice intelligence platform and broader AI innovations.

🌍 SkyFi — $12.7M Series A
SkyFi, an Austin-based satellite data and analytics startup, raised $12.7 million in Series A funding co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital. The company’s platform democratizes access to Earth-observation data for sectors like agriculture, energy, finance, insurance, and disaster response.

🌟 Female Founder Spotlight: Jessica Matthews — Founder & CEO, Uncharted Power

Jessica Matthews is the founder and CEO of Uncharted Power, a startup building renewable energy infrastructure solutions for underserved and disaster-prone communities.

What makes her journey compelling:

• Built a mission-driven company rooted in real-world impact

• Focuses on infrastructure, resilience, and energy access

• Raised venture and strategic capital while operating in a hard, capital-intensive space

Her work is a reminder that venture-scale companies don’t have to sacrifice purpose for ambition.

💡 Opportunities:

• Summer 2026 Fellowship @ Bain Capital Ventures (CA) - Apply

• Associate @ Bluestone Investment Partners (VA) - Apply

• Private Equity Associate @ Heritage Holding (Boston) - Apply

• Associate Banker - Venture Capital Technology @ J.P. Morgan (Boston) - Apply

• Venture Capital Investment Intern Spring 2026 @ HOF Capital (NY) Apply

💗 Closing

Venture is built on long-term belief — in people, ideas, and timing. We’re grateful to be learning and building alongside a community that’s curious, thoughtful, and ambitious.

See you next week.

With appreciation,
The Girls Into VC Team 💗