Katie Palencsar is an investor, advisor, and thought leader in early-stage company building and venture investing. She works with VC & non-VC backed businesses offering operational, client acquisition and fundraising/financing strategy and support.

Most recently she was a Partner at global fintech VC firm, Anthemis Group, where she also was Head of Venture Studio and led the Female Innovators Lab Fund. Since launching the fund at the end of 2019, Katie led its global expansion and AUM growth with investment by Barclays, Aviva, Visa and BMO, investing across North America, UK and Europe.

She is an advisor and co-owner of Generation Guest Group, a global hospitality and travel management company. In just 5 months, the business has 6 and 7 figure GMV clients, marquee partnerships and is handling all things travel for 100+ clients including executives, corporate accounts, VC/PE, tech companies, PR firms, entertainment tours, production companies, celebrities, HNW and many more.

Previously, she founded and led data SaaS company, Unbound Concepts from ideation to exit. The company’s data services were used by global distributors as well as privately owned and publicly traded publishers in addition to providing free software tools to over 40,000+ educators. Upon acquisition by Certica Solutions, she served on the executive team leading Solutioning, collaborating with key clients on both enhanced product integrations and new product offerings. Certica Solutions was acquired by Instructure, one of the largest global Learning Management Systems.

Katie was named American Banker’s Most Influential Women in Fintech in 2023 and is the recipient of the 99u General Electric Emerging Innovators Award, Drexel University Alumni Educator of the Year Award, SmartCEO’s Voltage Award, Women in Fintech Powerlist and a USPTO patent recipient for Performing Dynamic Textual Complexity Using Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Crunchbase and The Wall Street Journal.

An enthusiastic New Yorker and a trained dancer with a deep appreciation for the arts, you can often find her immersed in the theater, dance, and music scenes across the city.