LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--M13 is pleased to announce the appointment of Anna Barber as Partner and Head of Launchpad. Before M13, Anna served as Managing Director of Techstars LA. Anna will be based in LA and responsible for expanding Launchpad, M13’s inhouse venture studio. Barber joins M13 effective December 1.

M13’s Launchpad began in 2019 to test new product ideas and incubate its first cohort of companies. Launchpad’s first internally developed company is Rae, an inclusive line of affordable women’s wellness products available at Target, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. Companies developed in partnership with Procter & Gamble Ventures include the premium beauty tech OPTE, Kindra menopause products and Bodewell for sensitive skin care.

At M13, Barber will continue the success of Launchpad’s first cohort and expand the program’s capacity to include additional cohorts of entrepreneurs, product ideas and corporate partners. Barber brings to M13 an informed background as a founder and operator, an early stage investor and four years as the Managing Director of Techstars LA, where she built a portfolio of locally founded companies with a strong community of support. A frequent speaker about the LA tech ecosystem and women in entrepreneurship, Barber’s mission is to work with diverse teams of founders to build world-changing companies. Consistent with her commitment to early stage founders, she also founded The Fund LA, a pre-seed venture fund that supports the LA ecosystem of entrepreneurs. Her career has included stints as a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product executive and entrepreneur in ed tech, retail and e-commerce. She is also a certified executive coach. Barber graduated from Yale University and Yale Law School and is a proud native New Yorker.

Barber said, “I’m thrilled to join the M13 team. M13 is a venture fund and studio built on three pillars: its multi-stage early consumer tech fund, the Launchpad innovation studio that starts early in the innovation cycle, and a Propulsion team of experienced operators to help both Fund and Launchpad companies. This is an opportunity to build something that will have a big impact thanks to M13’s ecosystem and team of world class and truly kind people. M13’s Launchpad starts from a blank sheet of paper, looking at market white spaces and forming teams to generate businesses to meet those opportunities. I look forward to building an inclusive ecosystem and working alongside the M13 team to build great companies.”

M13 Co-Founder Carter Reum said, “There is no better place for M13’s Launchpad than Los Angeles and no better person to lead it than Anna. M13 is home to a creative, diverse community of entrepreneurs and operators who want to make the world better by applying innovation in everything from media to biotech, prop tech to food. We are excited for Anna to continue to lead LA’s center of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors with a rigorous Launchpad program and more exceptional partners and cohorts.”

About M13

M13 is a venture engine built by founders to serve founders. Founded in 2016 with offices in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, M13 invests in early stage consumer tech companies driving change in consumer behavior over the next decade. With more than 80 direct investments and 16 exits, M13’s portfolio totals over $137B in enterprise value and includes Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Daily Harvest, FabFitFun, Rothy’s and others. For more information about M13, please visit www.m13.co.