Although the startup sphere is still hugely dominated by men, women have increased their presence and performance in recent years. Female entrepreneurship has risen greatly, and now there are 114% more of them than 20 years ago. And this growth is larger than overall for business.
Yet their startups still get drastically fewer investments than their male-running competitors. Raising investments is never easy for startups.
Statistically, companies founded or led by women perform better in terms of revenue and ROI. Women startups are present almost in any industry and can do anything. They can provide better healthcare, help with you with everyday meditations, or produce military drones.
According to the 2019 report, women-owned businesses grew by 21% in the past five years, where the number for all businesses is only 9%. To illustrate that, here are some amazing examples by Vasy Kafidoff, a co-founder and CEO at WritingMetier
Innovative Female-Led Startups
Maven – This is an amazing business founded in 2014 by Kate Ryder. This app allows access to online healthcare from any place. It focuses mostly on women's and family healthcare, regarding pregnancy, fertility, return to work, and pediatrics. It is available 24/7, and a user can get help quite easily and fast from almost any part of the world, which is excellent for traveling. The app also has useful and informative content, as well as tracking features and weekly plans.
Verge Genomics – Alice Zhang founded this company in 2015 for innovative medical care. The company uses genomic data from patients and machine learning to combat neurodegenerative diseases. They base their approach to medicine on human genomics. The idea is to track genes that cause them and target them with medicine. They are now focused on three diseases, namely, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and Frontotemporal Dementia.
Simple Habit – This helpful app is founded by Yunha Kim to bring short but useful mediations to a busy life. Based on her experience, Kim understood that it doesn't have to take long to meditate in a day to reduce stress. And the results are pretty good. The app is designed by Harvard psychology and meditation professionals and offers 5-minute meditations for all types of personal situations.
Hey Influencers – Gretta van Riel founded this platform in 2016. It has a simple premise – to bring influencers and brands together for collaboration. It works a lot like a dating app because brands and influencers have to like each other to match. Only approved and authorized brands and influencers can join to increase the credibility of the platform. It also secures funds until the job is done.
Astral AR – Astral AR is co-founded by Leah La Salla and produces innovative piloting systems and drones for law enforcement, firefighters, and military needs. Their main benefit is a unique technology that helps to detect guns and bombs through walls. It detects whether the guns are real or not too.
Blendoor – Stephanie Lampkin founded this app to offer an unbiased recruitment process for companies to diversify their teams. It has a great talent pool and uses AI and people analytics to bring the best candidates for the job. The bias is eliminated as you do not see photos, names, or candidates' age. It shows only the relevant information for a job, such as experience and education.
May Mobility – Alisyn Malek is an engineer and co-founder of this company that creates autonomous vehicles for residents of several cities. These are more efficient and clean vehicles that operate without drivers. The company managed to bring their product on the streets only a year after launch.
Immersed Games – This company was founded by Lindsey Tropf to bring education and games together. This EdTech company has one product as for now available as a multiplayer experience or standalone version. Thus startup works to empower students and make education fun and enjoyable.
Bloomer Tech – This company was started three women – Alicia Chong Rodriguez, Monica Abarca, and Aceil Halaby. The startup designed a unique product – bra with technology to heart monitoring, measuring pulse and respiratory rate. The technology gathers essential information and uses AI to interpret the data. It is a day-to-day personal healthcare product.
From Seed to Spoon – Carrie Spoonemore started this business to help people grow their fresh vegetables and fruit. Now there is a free app to get all the necessary information and calendar for a family garden. It is a great invention as it makes fresh food more accessible in terms of price and convenience.
Lumme Labs – Akshaya Shanmugam has started a convenient platform that helps people to study, analyze, and change their behaviors in terms of eating, drinking, or smoking. The smartwatch helps to gather the data, predict triggers, and possible relapse moments. The watch then warns a person and offers healthy alternatives. Overall, the technology uses machine learning and behavioral psychology to help people quit smoking, for example.
In Summary
These 11 companies are just an example of hundreds of successful startups led by women. Women entrepreneurs are bringing innovative products in all spheres, whether it is fintech, adtech or even engineering solutions.
