Maria Heyen is an Associate at Redbud VC, where she was the firm’s first hire. She has helped deploy over $5M across 25+ companies, with Redbud serving as the first institutional investor in 17 of them. Maria also curates Redbud’s monthly newsletter for 14,000+ subscribers, launched Soapbox for junior VCs, and writes for founders on mariaheyen.com. She is a member of AllRaise, Women in VC, and Capital Collective.

Prior to Redbud, Maria worked with the Nebraska Angels, one of the Angel Capital Association’s most active groups. At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, she was a founding member of the Husker Venture Fund, where she sourced and deployed $150K into six startups and helped raise $1M to sustain the fund. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and was named the College of Business Graduating Student of the Year in 2023.

Maria is based in Chicago, where she enjoys walking on the lakefront (even in the winter), volunteering at Tutoring Chicago, and ranking the best breakfast sandwiches in the city.