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Lauren Kolodny (pronounced kuh-LOD-nee; born January 21, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and venture capital investor. She is the co-founder of Acrew Capital, a thesis-driven venture capital firm managing $1.7+ billion in assets, where she has served as Managing Partner since its inception in 2019. Kolodny leads the firm’s fintech practice and is widely recognized for her contributions to the industry, most notably for leading the 2016 Series A investment in Chime,^[1] the leading neobank in the United States. She was ranked among the world's best venture investors on the Forbes Midas List in 2023 ^[2] and 2024. ^[3]

Lauren Jane Kolodny was born on January 21, 1986 in San Diego, California and grew up in the seaside village of Del Mar, California. She is the eldest of two daughters to Robert Kolodny, a real estate attorney, and Martha Dudenhoeffer, a non-profit director. Kolodny attended Torrey Pines High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brown University, a Master of Sciences in Sustainable Design (E-IPER Program) from Stanford University, and a MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

She became the youngest ever trustee on Brown University’s Board of Trustees (Brown University Corporation), joining at just 23 years old. In that role, she played a key part in redesigning the university’s Career Services in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and served on the search committee that selected Brown’s current president, Christina Paxson. Lauren remains an active Trustee Emerita and currently serves on the President’s Leadership Council, the president’s advisory board.^[4]

Kolodny started her early career developing clean technology partnerships for the Clinton Foundation based in New Delhi, India. While there, she witnessed some of the earliest entrepreneurial activity around mobile money, and developed a strong belief in the opportunity for fintech to drive financial inclusion around the world.^[5]

She later worked in product marketing at Google, where she led launches for Google Workspace, including the launch of Google Drive for businesses.^[5]

This journey ultimately led her to join Aspect Ventures in 2015, where she assumed the position of Partner in 2017,^[6] before departing in 2019 to co-found Acrew Capital with Theresia Gouw, former boss and longtime friend from her early days on the Brown University’s Board of Trustees.

Acrew Capital is a values-driven and thesis-led venture capital firm that focuses on seed, early and growth-stage investments across three key sectors: Data & Security, Fintech, and Health & Human Empowerment.^[7] The firm is well known for its fintech practice, built and led by Kolodny, who has led several significant investments in over 20 startups, including the 2016 Series A round in Chime, which today is valued at $25 billion and has millions of users.^[8] Her portfolio also includes notable companies like Clara,^[9] Divvy^[10] (acquired by Bill.com),^[11] Gusto,^[12] Klar,^{[13] [14]} Nala,^[15] and Pie Insurance,^[16] among others. She has also made growth stage investments in companies like Plaid and Marqeta (MQ).

In 2024, the company celebrated their fifth anniversary by announcing their newest $700MM capital raise.^[17] In total, Acrew Capital, under Kolodny and Gouw’s leadership, manages a portfolio exceeding $1.7+ billion AUM.^[18]

• Kolodny, Lauren. “Announcing: All in on AI, the First Financial Services AI Adoption Index by Acrew Capital & Money...” Medium, Acrew Capital, 31 Oct. 2024, perspectives.acrewcapital.com/announcing-all-in-on-ai-the-first-financial-services-ai-adoption-index-by-acrew-capital-money-70c6dbe31823.
• Kolodny, Lauren. “Millennials Led the Consumer Fintech Revolution Post-2008. Here’s Why Gen Zers Are about to Do the Same.” Fortune, 26 Nov. 2023, fortune.com/2023/11/06/millennials-led-consumer-fintech-revolution-post-2008-gen-zers-finance-lauren-kolodny/.

Kolodny was featured 68th on the 2024 Forbes Midas List and was the face of the 2023 Forbes Midas List. She has also been honored in publications including:

• 2024: Forbes Midas List^[19]
• 2023: Forbes Midas List^[20]
• 2021: Forbes Midas Brink List^[21]
• 2020: WSJ’s 10 Female VCs Grooming the Next Generation of Game Changing Startups^[22]
• 2020: WSJ’s 10 Women to Watch List^[23]
• 2020: Business Insider’s 10 VCs Who Represent the Future of Venture Capital^[24]
• 2020: Business Insider’s 100 Rising Stars of Venture Capital^[25]
• 2016: Forbes 30 Under 30^[26]

In 2015, Kolodny married Mitch Houff, an American entrepreneur in the fintech sector, whom she met at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. They have two daughters together and currently reside in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.