Maria Salamanca, Principal - Unshackled Ventures

Maria Salamanca is a Principal at Unshackled Ventures, a fund that fills a unique space in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, funding teams with immigrant founders at pre-seed. Maria joined the fund close to its formation in 2015, during her time she has been involved in 40+ investments and see ~1,500 deals a year. In 2018, she was the first Latina named Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and Business Insiders Under 30 Rising Stars. Her support for the Latinx community also won her the 2017 California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Shark of Year.

She's also spent time in the political world. She started her career at FWD.us a bipartisan political organization focused on immigration and criminal justice reform. The group was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ron Conway, Reid Hoffman, and other tech leaders.

After the 2016 election, she was founding COO at Swing Left and supported Higher Ground Labs with the first-ever political technology landscape.