Maria A. Dahrieh

A serial entrepreneur, skilled in investor relations, Maria founder her first consulting company in 2004, dealing in business development and expansion consulting. With an Investment Banker Degree, BA in Wealth Management and Masters in International Management, after internship in one of the largest banks in Europe and passionate about people and languages, she moved to a PR position at the ICDO International Civil Defense Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2013 she launched Vanilae, a company with a focus on business development and PR with a mission to support smart cities and sustainability initiatives in their expansion plan. Coming across several scale-ups having issues with putting together investment strategies, she took on her first project in capital raising; WhaleShark was born, aiding growth-stage start-ups and scale-ups with a focus on internationalization. Pre-VC Advisory and Accelerator Programs are offered; one aimed at enabling entrepreneurs to accelerate growth, keeping on track and addressing issues early on to improve their investment readiness and business overall health. The second, working with a hands-on approach advisory for pre-seeds up to A VC Rounds, supporting them to compile a presentation for investors, the aim being to get them investment ready and complying with investor expectations.