Welcome, Fernanda Sesto!

Unshackled Ventures is thrilled to announce that Fernanda Sesto has joined the team as an Investment Analyst! 🎉

With a background in software, an early interest in venture capital, and her own unique immigrant perspective, Fernanda is committed to leveraging her experiences to help more immigrant founders grow and succeed. Fernanda has been a strong advocate for diversity in tech and has helped launch many initiatives to support diversifying the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the United States. At Unshackled, we are all guided to pursue change with purpose, and from our early conversations with Fernanda, it became clear she embodies this core value in every aspect of her journey.

In this role, Fernanda will focus on sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, as well as, building connections throughout the Philadelphia and broader East Coast tech ecosystem. With her experience in software testing, entrepreneurship, and dedication to making the startup world more inclusive, we’re excited about the value she is already adding to our team’s mission.

Please join us in welcoming Fernanda to the Unshackled team!

A note from Fernanda:

I’m excited to share that I’ve officially joined the investment team at Unshackled Ventures as an Analyst, based in Philadelphia. 🥳

My interest in venture capital comes from my early experiences in tech. I’ve been coding since high school, and the lack of women in the space has always been hard to ignore. After working in software testing for almost 2 years before college, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why aren’t there more women founding tech companies?”. This question stuck with me, and during my first semester of college, I started researching the gender gap in tech. I was shocked to learn that less than 2% of VC funding goes to women-led startups, and the numbers for Black and Latino founders are also disheartening, at less than 1% and around 2%, respectively. These stats opened my eyes to the lack of diversity in the startup world and gave me the energy to drive change. It became clear that putting more women and underrepresented voices in check-writing roles is key to solving this problem.

Since then, I’ve been intentional about building my career in VC. From completing five venture capital internships to reading extensively about the industry, launching a venture capital podcast, and working at my University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, I’ve been dedicated to making venture education more accessible and inclusive.

Joining the Unshackled team feels like a perfect fit, not just because we all share a commitment to creating a more diverse startup ecosystem, but most importantly because of our shared immigrant experiences. As the first in my family to leave Uruguay, navigating life as a low-income international student, and building my career in the United States, I’ve come to appreciate how resilient and driven immigrants need to be and inherently are. I’m excited to support founders who embody that same grit and determination. Specifically, if you’re an immigrant woman technical founder, I’d love to hear from you! 👩‍💻

I’m incredibly grateful to the entire Unshackled team for believing in me, and I can’t wait to contribute to the mission of empowering more immigrant entrepreneurs.

Unshackled Ventures — Immigrants Start Here