In private markets, access is shaped by large allocators. Institutional LPs, major family offices, and ultra-high-net-worth investors receive priority entry into competitive funds and deals. While women globally control trillions in assets, a significant and often overlooked segment sits in the $1–5 million range of deployable private capital—large enough to build diversified portfolios, yet often too small to access institutional-quality opportunities.
Despite having the ability to build diversified portfolios, many of these women lack access to institutional private banking, quality fund allocations, and top-tier deal flow. They are too large for retail products and too small for institutions. The result is a structural blind spot.
Genia Xasis, Founding Partner and CEO of Berkana, didn’t discover this gap in theory. She experienced it firsthand at an LP event as the only woman in the room and decided to build an alternative. Berkana is a private capital network designed to give women professional-grade access to investing—without requiring institutional-scale wealth.
In a conversation with Genia Xasis, she discussed why this gap exists, why it matters now, and how Berkana is designed to address it.
What exactly is Berkana?
Berkana is a syndicate for women who want to invest in various niches with different risk/return ratios, but all investments fall under the social ventures thesis. The group is structured as a club where women meet online five times per year to listen to presentations of new deals, with the management team presenting to the group. Additionally, there are two 2-day-offline-meetings in the financial capitals of the world—New York, Riyadh, Dubai, or London—focused on learning from each other through knowledge exchange sessions (keynotes, panels, group networking, and entertainment).
What led you to build Berkana, and what gap were you aiming to address?
The mission behind Berkana is to make more women wealthy and raise awareness about building women’s wealth. The problem Berkana.vc is addressing is the lack of professionals focused specifically on women’s wealth. Most GPs of global funds do not tailor their services to help women understand the mechanics of building personal wealth, growing capital through social ventures, and achieving multi-X returns over time.
What first made you aware that women with meaningful personal capital are often excluded from the same investment opportunities as others?
There is a very personal experience behind this realization. I was an LP in a U.S.-based fund and flew from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco—an 18-hour journey—to attend an LP event. I quickly realized I was the only woman in the room. Later that evening, I was told there was “no seat for me at dinner” because I had registered last. I refused to leave and insisted on staying.
It felt like I had paid for a seat at a table where I wasn’t truly welcome. That experience prompted me to look more closely at the system and recognize that many women simply do not invest in private equity or venture capital because these environments remain male-dominated. In regions like the GCC, women often concentrate their capital in real estate or operating businesses but rarely transition into professional investment structures.
What is the core idea behind Berkana?
Berkana is an exclusive investment consortium—anchored in Saudi Arabia and designed for 100 ultra-high-net-worth leaders—uniting capital, influence, and strategic purpose.
We believe women are an underleveraged force in private markets—capable of driving outsized returns while shaping the economic and social frameworks of the future. The market has consistently overlooked this potential. Berkana exists to correct that imbalance.
Most investment options available to women today at this level are either fragmented or non-professional. Many traditional private equity and venture funds require multi-million-dollar minimum commitments for direct access. While private banks may serve clients at the $1–5 million level, entry into top-tier private market funds often depends on larger allocations or established networks.
Although certain platforms and feeder structures allow smaller checks, direct commitments to established private equity and venture funds often require multi-million-dollar allocations. From an institutional perspective, $1 million is often considered “too small to matter.” Yet this is precisely the stage at which disciplined portfolio construction becomes essential. Berkana was created to serve this overlooked segment of capital.
Who is Berkana designed for, and why did you choose this audience?
Berkana brings together women with meaningful capital and influence across sectors. Its members include investors with prior venture experience, founders who have built and exited technology companies, C-level executives transitioning from corporate leadership into entrepreneurship, and operators managing successful businesses across industries.
The community also includes women who steward inherited wealth—including those from prominent business families—as well as philanthropists and public figures seeking to align capital with both financial performance and measurable impact.
While their backgrounds differ, they share a common objective: to deploy capital more strategically into private markets, with disciplined portfolio construction and a strong impact lens.
What is your core strength in this industry, and why should people trust your leadership?
My core strength is building and mobilizing capital—raising funds and helping portfolio companies secure growth financing. Any fund or investment platform ultimately fails if its leadership cannot do either effectively.
My second strength is network-building. I am known for building trusted relationships across investors, founders, and operators—and for connecting the right people when capital and opportunity align. For a network like Berkana, this is critical: success depends on understanding people, capital, needs, and opportunities—and connecting the right participants at the right time.
How is Berkana different from a traditional investment fund?
Traditional funds lock capital for 6–10 years under one strategy and sometimes even one geography. The past few years—marked by COVID, geopolitical conflicts, and significant market corrections—have underscored how rapidly capital markets can change. My personal portfolio is flexible: long-horizon seed bets, shorter SPVs, LP stakes, and other asset classes. Berkana mirrors that approach. It blends different risk–return profiles and timelines, so some members can exit in a year, others in five; others can grow wealth through capital appreciation, or dividends—it’s up to them. The goal is simple: let women choose the impact opportunities they find in the club—either presented by the team, or other members—that fit their strategy and lifestyle.
How does Berkana work in practice for someone who wants to invest?
Every member gets a personalized impact-investing portfolio. We start with focus areas—think sustainability, water resources, circular economy, and healthcare.Then pair them with each member’s risk–return profile: dividend-generating assets, long-term growth, or a mix.
Each month, deals come in, the investment committee reviews, and we propose allocations tailored to her profile. Over a year, the portfolio takes shape. Participation can be active—or fully hands-off, letting the team manage everything.
In addition, there will be two major in-person events per year. Our first flagship event will be in Dubai on April 19th-20th, 2026, in partnership with entrepreneur Piers Dunhill and Dunhill Ventures, and with the support of Sheikha Somayeh Noor of the Fujairah Royal Family. The event will be held at the Noor Royal Gallery, and followed by Abu Dhabi, New York, Riyadh, London, and other global hubs—a chance to connect, learn, and see impact investing in action.
Where does Berkana’s deal flow come from?
Deal flow comes from a mix of institutional relationships, global award and accelerator programs, and community-driven sourcing. This includes initiatives such as the Cartier Women’s Initiative, Moonshot awards, and select international startup programs like Google mentorship, as well as access through our personal venture capital and family office networks.
In addition, Berkana leverages its internal ecosystem: members can introduce opportunities for review by the investment committee, creating a curated, community-powered sourcing model. Berkana remains strictly buy-side, without brokers or sell-side intermediaries.
How do you see Berkana in five years?
I see a network of 100 women, each deploying at least $1 million annually. At that scale, capital becomes catalytic. Ten women writing occasional checks can fund a company. But a coordinated network deploying $100 million per year can shape sectors, influence standards, and build lasting infrastructure.
With this capital, we can move beyond isolated investments toward intentional capital allocation—disciplined, measurable, and designed for long-term impact.
My ambition is for Berkana to become more than a network. I want it to become a movement—one that demonstrates that impact investing is not charity, but rigorous capital allocation with measurable returns and systemic influence.
For me, impact investing is about measuring both results and returns—not replacing philanthropy, but complementing it. A donation can address an urgent need. But when capital builds scalable, sustainable businesses, the impact compounds long after the initial investment.
Charity can alleviate a problem for a moment. Well-structured impact investing can create systems that continue generating value—financially and socially—for years, even generations.
