Claire England

VC Partner and Kauffman Fellow in Austin, Texas

Visit my website

A generalist investor and former executive with operations, strategy, and governance experience, Claire England leads seed to pre-IPO startup investments at Portfolia. She's a partner in Portfolia's Food & AgTech Fund as well as the fully invested FemTech Fund I, the first VC fund to invest solely in women’s health and wellness.

She's also a Kauffman Fellow, a leading innovation post-graduate program and global network of 882 VCs and LPs, where she's co-chair of the Women's SIG. As a partner at LOHAS, she shares a deep understanding of how high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and foundations can meaningfully address today's most pressing societal challenges through tax-advantaged, for-profit impact investing.

Previously, Claire grew a generalist investing community of 200 high-net-worth and family office LPs into a national model, achieving the #1 U.S. angel group ranking for both capital invested and deal activity. Under her leadership, LPs deployed $75M into 95 new startups and dozens of portfolio companies, while far exceeding VC return averages with a 5x ROI.

Prior to that, she directed a large-scale founder and investor conference pivotal to evolving Austin’s startup community into what it is today. She developed her passion for entrepreneurship as the first full-time employee of a social media services startup. Before startups, she spent a decade leading marketing and fundraising in the impact sector.

Claire’s work has been recognized with Kauffman Fellows’ Leadership Award and Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power Finalist Award. Having put herself through college while working and taking a full course load, she's a proud state university graduate. She received full honors and Dean's List recognition and was a national journalism honor society inductee.

With extensive professional speaking experience, she is a particularly skilled panel moderator. She's led workshops, spoken on panels, judged startup pitch competitions, and given keynote addresses in the U.S. and internationally. She's also taught university undergraduate and post-graduate business school classes as a guest lecturer in Texas and Arkansas.

Claire serves on St. Edward’s University’s Business School Board of Advisors and mentors founders at Capital Factory and Techstars. She's volunteered on numerous advisory committees with organizations such as Angel Capital Association, Austin Chamber of Commerce, Startup America, and World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers.

  • Education
    • Kauffman Fellows
    • Texas State University