Exceptional women leaders have played a key role in the evolution and success of the growth investing space over the past decades. It is a distinct honor for us at GrowthCap to be able to recognize these remarkable individuals who, through their investment acumen, operational capabilities, and work ethic, have had a profound impact on their firms, portfolio companies, limited partners, and others.
To determine this year’s awardees, GrowthCap ran a thorough nomination process and reviewed feedback received from each nominee’s colleagues, portfolio company executives and/or others in the industry. Each candidate was evaluated based on her demonstrated success in her specific roles, breadth of experience, longevity in the field, and consistency in performance, among other factors. We received hundreds of nominations and while we are not able to recognize all those who were nominated, we want to acknowledge their notable contributions to the growth investing field.
The individuals selected for The Top Women Leaders in Growth Investing of 2023 have demonstrated deep expertise in private company investing, portfolio management, firm operations as well as business expansion strategy and execution.
Susan Bihler is a Partner supporting growth equity and minority investments at Lead Edge Capital (LEC), a growth-stage investment fund with nearly $5B of capital raised since inception. Investing in software, internet, consumer, and tech-enabled service businesses globally, the firm has backed companies like Toast, Alibaba Group, Delivery Hero, Duo Security, Grafana, Spotify, Benchling, and Wise.
Susan joined LEC in late 2022 and focuses on investing in high-growth B2B SaaS and tech-enabled services businesses with a focus on compliance, learning and development, future of work, and cloud infrastructure.
Prior to Lead Edge, Susan worked at Catalyst Investors, where she primarily focused on investing in B2B software businesses. She’s been in growth equity since 2009, where she’s worked on 13 deals and served on the boards of LinkSquares (as a board observer), Envoy Global, Datavail, eSUB, Ascentis, MINDBODY (as a board observer), and WeddingWire (as a board observer). Susan graduated from Georgetown University, cum laude, with a BS in business administration.
“It’s an honor to be recognized as one of GrowthCap’s leading growth investors. Working with so many talented entrepreneurs over the last 14 years has been an absolute privilege, and I’m looking forward to continuing investing in high-growth B2B companies alongside the Lead Edge Capital team.”—Susan Bihler
