Monique Woodard

Monique Woodard is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder with more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of technology and emerging consumer groups. Woodard founded Cake Ventures to fund companies addressing the needs of a world experiencing significant demographic changes. Cake Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in technology driven by trends such as aging and longevity, the increased spending power of women, and the shift to majority-minority populations. The firm's debut fund of $17 million received backing from investors including Pivotal Ventures, Cendana Ventures, Screendoor, Plexo Capital, Foundry Group, and Bank of America.

Before establishing Cake Ventures, Woodard built a career as both an operator and investor. Her experience includes building and selling an ad network, launching a mobile shopping startup, and serving as a venture partner at 500 Startups and a venture scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners. As a venture partner at 500 Global, she invested in early-stage companies such as Silvernest and Blavity, and led the firm's investing and deal flow pipeline in sub-Saharan Africa, guiding investors, technology executives, and founders on Geeks on a Plane, a tour of Africa's startup ecosystems. Woodard has also advised foundations on increasing capital allocation to diverse fund managers and entrepreneurs, and served as an advisor on SoftBank's Emerge, an early-stage pipeline program focused on companies led by underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Woodard co-founded Black Founders, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of successful Black entrepreneurs in technology across the United States, with programming in cities including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and on several HBCU campuses. She later joined 500 Startups as its first African American venture partner, with a focus on increasing investments in Black and Latino technology entrepreneurs. Earlier in her career, Woodard served as one of San Francisco's first Mayor's Innovation Fellows, working on open data, municipal Wi-Fi, and bridging the digital divide. She authored a resolution on broadband and unlicensed spectrum that was adopted at the US Conference of Mayors.

Woodard's investment thesis is grounded in original research. She wrote the report "Gray New World," which explores the ramifications of an aging population and highlights demographic-driven technology trends. Woodard regularly invests, speaks, writes, and advises on consumer technology, emerging demographics, and diversity. She has been interviewed on entrepreneurship and investing for USA Today, MSNBC, the New York Times, NPR, CNBC, and Essence Magazine. Woodard holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Miami and is a Kauffman Fellow. Her work challenges conventional Silicon Valley thinking and promotes a vision of technology shaped by evolving demographic trends.