Isabelle Freidheim

Isabelle Freidheim (born 15 August 1980) is a French-born French and American venture capitalist and tech founder. She is the Chairman & CEO of the Athena platform of SPACs and the co-founder of Magnifi (acquired by Tifin).
She is known for having founded the Athena platform of SPACs, the first all-women SPAC, and for being the youngest female chairman of a NYSE publicly traded company ever. She was dubbed the Queen Maker by Forbes ..
She is the daughter of French media businessman Maxime Dufour and of Romanian singer, media executive and politician Mihaela Mihai. and the step daughter of Ambassador and former Romanian Foreign Minister State Secretary Dumitru Ciausu.
Freidheim is the co-founder and was a partner of venture capital fund The London Fund, and is the co-founder of Fintech company Magnifi, which was acquired by Tifin in December 2020. She was also the first female venture partner at venture capital fund MissionOG, co-founded by Gene Lockhart, former CEO of Mastercard International.
== Early Life And Education ==
Isabelle Freidheim (née Isabelle Dufour) was born on 15 August 1980 in Neuilly sur Seine, France.
Isabelle Freidheim's father Maxime Dufour founded advertising and movie production distribution company Armor Films, which produced and distributed, among other movies, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Maxime Dufour also served as an attaché in the administration of President Valéry Giscard D'Estaing. 
Her mother, Mihaela Mihai, is a Romanian singer, actress, media executive and politician who ran for member of parliament of the European Union and and most recently for mayor of Bucarest. She was a vocal dissident to the communist regime. Her singing career launched after she won the Coupe d'Europe de Chant in 1971 during the communist era and became one of the most acclaimed artists in Romania with #1 ranked songs for a number of years. She acted in numerous Romanian movies, including Asediul (1970), Barriera (1972), and Cartierul Veseliei (1964). 
In 1972, she performed in honor of Nicolae Ceausescu but after publicly commenting on the communist regime, the Romanian secret service Securitate led a smear campaign against the singer, outing her dissident remarks, which prompted her exile via East Germany while on a singing tour, later crossing over to West Germany before arriving in France, where she immigrated and worked as a journalist for TV channel France 3. After more than two decades in exile, she retuned to Romania. The news shook the country because the Romanian press had falsely reported Mihaela Mihai to have been imprisoned and later executed for attempting to leave the country. 
In 1989, Isabelle moved to Romania with her mother under the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, a Communist dictator who was leader of Romania from 1965 until he was overthrown and killed after a revolution in 1989. 
Mihaela Mihai became a media entrepreneur, launching a sub TV channel and advertising for newly created brands when privatizations began in Romania. Isabelle had her own children's TV show, "Les Trois Mots d'Isabelle." 
Freidheim's uncle is Doru Stanculescu, an iconic Romanian folk singer who passed away in 2021. 
Mihaela Mihai later moved back to France and married then Romanian ambassador in Paris Dumitriu Ceausu. Isabelle lived in the Romanian embassy and attended boarding school 'L'Ecole des Roches in France. Her mother Mihaela Mihai later returned to Romania and ran for member of parliament for the European Union and for Mayor of Bucharest. 
Isabelle's father Maxime Dufour died in August 2016 from a self inflicted gun wound following a head injury, which increased Isabelle's interest in the intersection of neurology and mental health. She is a donor to the Columbia Zuckerman Brain Institute. 
She obtained a French Baccalaureate in 1999 and attended Law School at Paris-Pantheon-Assas. She transferred to Columbia University and graduated with a degree in Economics in 2004. Following working at Lehman Brothers in New York and at Invesco's private equity group in London, she attended Columbia Business School and graduated in 2009 with an MBA. 
== Career ==
Freidheim started her career on Wall Street in 2004 as an investment banker at Lehman brothers, the now defunct New York based investment bank. She then joined Invesco's private equity fund in London before attending Columbia Business School. She graduated from Columbia Business School in 2009. 
=== Magnifi ===
She is known for having co-founded venture capital fund The London Fund, London based venture capital fund investing in emerging technologies. She later joined venture capital fund MissionOG as the first female venture partner. MissionOG was founded by Gene Lockhart, former CEO of Mastercard International.
She co-founded Magnifi with Vinay Nair and acted as its CEO. Magnifi is the first search engine for financial products, later turned brokerage platform. Magnifi hired David Pottruck, former CEO of Chalrles Schwab, as its co-executive chairman and the company was acquired by Tifin. She was a partner at former Starwood VC, where she led investments in growth FinTech companies. 
=== Athena ===
Freidheim founded the Athena platform of SPACs, a group of SPACs, or blank check companies whose business purpose is to effect a merger or similar business combination with one or more businesses.
==== Athena Technology ====
Freidheim at the first Athena NYSE Bell Ringing
Freidheim founded Athena Acquisition Corp (ATHN: NYSE) in March, 2020, raising $250m in an IPO on the NYSE. She served as its Chairman. When Athena went public, her partner was the first black woman to take a company public. In July 2021, Athena Acquisition Corp. announced a $2 billion business combination with Bill Gates backed Heliogen and raised a $165m PIPE, which included investors such as Morgan Stanley and strategic investor ArcelorMittal. The transaction closed in December 2021.
Heliogen, Inc. (HLGN: NYSE), founded by Bill Gross, is a provider of AI-enabled concentrated solar energy. Founder Bill Gross was ousted by the board in February 2023. In April 2023, Bill Gross made a tender offer to purchase the company through Continuum Renewables. 
==== Athena Consumer ====
Freidheim and Neymar Jr. in Berlin at the launch of the Next.e.GO e.wave X
Freidheim founded Athena Consumer Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ACAQ)in October, 2021 raising $230 million in an IPO on the NYSE and serves as its Chairman, with Jane Park serving as its CEO. When Athena Consumer listed on the NYSE, Park was the first Korean American woman to take a company public. In July, 2022, Athena Consumer Acquisition Corp. announced a business combination with e.GO the German electric vehicle producer in July 2022. e.GO utilizes disruptive approaches to vehicle design, manufacturing and services to produce urban vehicles with a focus on affordability, convenience, practicality and smart services. Chairman Ali Vazvei e.GO announced a cargo model in addition to its existing e.GO Life and e.GO Wave models. 
Neymar serves as the global ambassador for e.Go.
Freidheim and Reddy at the NYSE on the day of Athena Tech II's trading debut
==== Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II ====
In December, 2021, Freidheim took public Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II with former Softbank partner Kirthiga Reddy. They raised $250 million in an [IPO on the NYSE founding Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II Freidheim serves as its Chairman and CEO, Reddy as its President and board member. In April 2023, Athena Technology II announced a combination with Air Water Ventures. 
Freidheim is a board member of the Growth for Good Acquisition Corp. SPAC led by Yana Kakar, which announced a combination with ZeroNox in March 2023.
==== Media ====
Freidheim has spoken about the investment, capital markets and technologies industries, being featured extensively in the media including Fortune, Forbes, WSJ, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Fox Business. She is a member of Fortune's Most Powerful Women and Fortune Brainstorm Tech. She has been a speaker at WSJ The Future of Everything, Money 20/20, among others. 
==Personal Life==
Freidheim is a donor to the Columba Zuckerman Brain Institute. She was previously on the board of the Sanford C. Bernstein Board of Leadership and Ethics. 
She lives in Aspen, CO with her 3 children and is an avid hiker. 
In 2018, the Aspen Daily News reported that Freidheim sued American celebrity Jake Paul for alleged damages to her house, which he rented for his birthday. The lawsuit was settled in 2021. 
Her husband Scott Freidheim was CEO of private equity firm Investcorp in Europe, CEO of CDI Corp, Chairman of ettain group and is a member of the World Economic Forum. He was a key executive at Lehman Brothers until its collapse in 2008. He is a former board member of Spelman College and is a board member of the board of trustees of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. He is a past board member of the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright scholarship, and the Scholar Rescue Fund within the IIE.
Her father in law is author and former Booz Allen partner Cyrus Freidheim. Cyrus Freidheim is a former board member of Virgin America, a life trustee of the Brookings Institution. He was CEO of Chiquitaand CEO of the Chicago Sun Times. He authored "Commit And Deliver" among other books. 
Isabelle was an avid horse rider and competed in horse jumping at the international level. Her son Alexander Freidheim is a nationally ranked ski racer. 
Category:1980 births
Category:People from Neuilly-sur-Seine	
Category:French people
Category:French Americans
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Venture capitalists
Category:Company founders