Backed by
The Top Global VC Podcast for Founders & Funders
10M+
Monthly Reach
1M+
Impressions
Top 5%
Global VC Podcast
50k+
Global Community
Billion Dollar Moves is the first and largest traveling venture capital podcast-meets-live show, taking you inside the boardrooms and behind the scenes with unicorn founders, funders, and the power players shaping the future.
Filmed live across global innovation hubs—from Silicon Valley to Singapore—it’s where capital meets conviction, and the conversations catalyze action.
Trusted by governments, family offices, and institutional investors, Billion Dollar Moves doesn’t just talk about the future—it helps build it.
Lead, build, and invest better.
Join award-winning entrepreneur and investor Sarah Chen-Spellings as she travels across the globe in search of what she calls the ‘unexpected leader’.
Every week, we deconstruct the Billion Dollar Moves of unicorn founders & funders; many of them underestimated long before they became iconic.
Many of them, unexpected leaders, just like you.
This show is about unfiltered conversations about success, failure, fear, and courage in the pursuit of the next big thing in tech and venture.
Billion Dollar Moves is proud to be part of the Hubspot Podcast Network with 10 million downloads a month as a group.
How do you build a cross-border VC fund that backs female founders before the world sees their value?
In this #MeritIn Motion series, we sit down with Marisa Warren, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of ALIAVIA Ventures and Founder of the ELEVACAO. A former Microsoft and SAP exec turned entrepreneur and investor, Marisa shares how she’s rewriting the rules of venture, by backing high-growth female founders across the U.S. and Australia before they’re on anyone else’s radar.
Backed by Carol Schwartz, the Forrest Family Office, the Denholm family and more, Marisa and co-founder Kate Vale (ex-Google, Spotify) are proving that investing in diverse teams isn’t charity—it’s smart capital.
Tune in now to learn more about generating cross-border alpha, and why Aussie startups may just be VC’s best-kept secret.
Timestamps / Key Takeaways
0:00 – Intro
02:21 – From teenage hustles to Microsoft, SAP, and Workday; built SAP’s SME channel and scaled Microsoft cloud partner revenue
07:35 – The gender gap in VC; founded ELEVACAO to support women in tech
14:24 – Building ALIAVIA: a cross-border VC fund amid the pandemic; creative loan structure to beat the “no track record” barrier
18:38 – Fund strategy & the edge of cross-border dynamics: Australian startups are often undervalued, capital-efficient, growth-ready
24:48 – LP co-investment as a value driver; founder red flags & must-haves
31:14 – Portfolio focus & the influence of AI on Future of Work and HealthTech
35:10 – The maturity of Australian startup scene; LP alignment and stakeholder management
39:52 – Looking ahead: Fund II at $25M; Fund III to follow with potential growth fund
42:41 – Billion Dollar Questions
ABOUT MARISA WARREN
Marisa Warren is the Founder and Managing Partner of ALIAVIA Ventures, investing in female-founded tech startups across the U.S. and Australia. Established in 2021, ALIAVIA has delivered it’s first exit, Loupe Art to Stingray, and invested in 12 early stage companies. She’s also the founder of ELEVACAO, a not-for-profit that helped 175 women raise over $120 million in funding, leading to 5 exits.
FOLLOW MARISA:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisawarren
–
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://billiondollarmoves.com
Watch on Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/sarahchenglobal
Join the community: https://sarah-chen.ck.page/billiondollarmoves
FOLLOW SARAH:
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sarahchenglobal
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sarahchenglobal
X/Twitter: https://x.com/sarahchenglobal
In venture, every move can make—or break—a billion-dollar outcome.
In venture, every move can make—or break—a billion-dollar outcome.
Panu Maulaheimo
- "We've worked with Sarah & her team to promote investing in and from Helsinki, leveraging ad spots and a sponsored series of episodes showcasing our nation's best unicorn founders and funders. Sarah's compelling storytelling combined with her targeted reach has resulted in an oversubscribed program for international investors. This was our second year working with her, and we are excited to continue working with her."
Monsha’at
- "Sarah Chen-Spellings brought her signature energy and commanding presence to Biban 2024, making her the ideal host and moderator alongside the Shark, Robert Herjavec. Her deep insights into investing in innovation and women-led ventures resonated powerfully with our audience of entrepreneurs, business leaders, and global investors. With her polished media expertise and natural ability to engage across cultures, she elevated the event, ensuring impactful takeaways and amplifying our reach across platforms. We were honored to have a globally renowned name join our stage, and we are excited to continue to work with her to drive entrepreneurship in our country and beyond."
Ann Cairns
- "We at Mastercard are delighted to be working with Beyond the Billion to address the massive gender venture funding gap holding women innovators back. Too much of our world was designed without women in mind and without women involved. Shelly, Sarah, and their team have done an excellent job of raising awareness about this issue and creating a network of VCs pledged to do more by investing in female-founded startups to address the problem. Working with our team, they seamlessly created an impactful dialogue based on Mastercard's gender balance narrative."
Why Our Sponsors Love Working With Us
This show is about unfiltered conversations about success, failure, fear and courage, in the pursuit of the next big thing in tech and venture.
From boardroom power plays to investor backchannels, you’ll hear the untold stories behind iconic companies like YouTube, Canva, and Vimeo, and go inside the minds of those moving capital at firms like Sequoia, Lightspeed, and beyond.
Whether you’re chasing your first $10M—or your next billion—this show is your front-row seat to how the smartest founders and funders win. Think raw, unfiltered, no-BS insight—designed to help you move faster, smarter, and bolder.
This isn’t just another business podcast. This is your billion-dollar playbook.
Your front-row seat to how the smartest founders and funders win. Think raw, unfiltered,no-BS insight—designed to help you move faster, smarter, and bolder.
Disclaimer
This podcast is an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of the host Sarah Chen-Spellings (SCS) as an investor personally, her firm Beyond The Billion (BTB) or any company discussed. These discussions are for informational purposes only, including any mention of securities or venture funds; and does not constitute any investment, legal, tax advice. SCS or BTB may hold currently, or in the future, direct or indirect interests in the featured companies or funds. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted.