The Complete Ecosystem Supporting Women-Led Tech Companies
There is a new version of this list available here.
This month has given me several opportunities to help me become a better public speaker — on a NYWICI panel in NYC, at SXSW in Austin, and today at the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in Milan at a session called “Moving the Needle in High Growth Women’s Entrepreneurship.”
For me, public speaking is an important skill because I’m an introvert that believes big ideas will spread farther if there is a voice and not just written words. Practice makes perfect.
The honor of being asked to speak is accompanied by an important responsibility. Time is every individual’s most precious commodity, so I always feel great pressure as a speaker to make my words actionable. To provide resources or take-always that allows the audience to leave with something practical.
For the session today, I created a map of the ecosystem supporting women-led tech companies. Please comment if I’ve overlooked any organizations that share our collective mission to:
- Increase the number of women in tech
- Increase the success of women-led tech companies
- Increase the number of women investors
Increasing the number of women in tech
- Helping women code: Hackbright Academy, Girls Who Code, Women Who Code, Black Girls Code, Girl Develop It, TechGirlz, Bella Minds
- Matching women with remote tech jobs: PowerToFly
- Matching young aspiring entrepreneurs with startups: Enstitute, Venture for America, CODE2040
- Networks of entrepreneurial women: Women 2.0, Ellevate Network, digitalundivided, Women Presidents’ Organization, SheEOs, Women@Austin, Alley to the Valley, the Vinetta Project, StartupChicks, Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network, Women Who Tech, Lesbians Who Tech, Philly Women in Tech, Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs, WEST, TechWomen Canada, Ada’s List, SoGal
- Conferences for entrepreneurial women: Women Entrepreneurs Fesitval, Female Founders Conference, Women Who Tech
Increasing the success of women-led companies
- Accelerators exclusively for women-led companies: Springboard Enterprises, AVINDE, Women’s Startup Lab, Equita, MergeLane, Prosper, Upstart, Women Innovating Now Lab, The Refinery, SOAR, mystartupXX, HeraHub (co-working space), The Ventura (co-working space)
- Accelerators with demonstrated appreciation of diversity: NewMe Accelerator, 500 Women, Dream It Athena, Founders Institute, American Underground
- Other Resources: Virago
Increasing the number of women investors
- Angel and VC training programs/networks: Pipeline Fellowship, Portfolia, 37 Angels, Kauffman Fellows, Women First Enterprise by the Angel Resource Institute, Women in Venture, Angel Academe
- Angel funds and angel groups made up of women investors or seeking to invest in women-led companies, or both: Broadway Angels, Belle Capital, Golden Seeds, X-Squared Angels, Astia Angels, Beehive Holdings, Topstone Angels, Scale Investors (Australia), Women’s Capital Connection, #Angels, The JumpFund, ArcAngels (New Zealand), Sofia Fund, WOMENA
- Venture funds investing in women and led by female partners: Springboard Fund, Merian Ventures, BBG Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Texas Women Ventures, Women’s Venture Capital Fund, True Wealth Ventures, SoGal Ventures
- Venture funds led by female partners: Illuminate Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Aspect Ventures, Rivet Ventures, Astarte Ventures, Starvest Partners, Rothenberg Ventures, Gotham Gal Ventures (angel), 1776 (accelerator).
- Other models: Plum Alley, AWE Ventures, TheNextWomen Crowd Fund (Europe)
I’m the VP @ Springboard, a resource hub and community of experts helping advance the growth of women-led tech and life science companies. Follow me at @joshuahenderson or joshuahenderson.com. If you enjoyed this article, please click below to recommend it.
