Building Momentum: Celebrating 2024’s Wins and 2025’s Big Plans
Fazit female founders harness the Taylor Swift effect with a 3,500% sales surge, Angel Rich raises a historic $100M Series B for CreditRich, & student founder Eve Idusuyi scales fintech trust globally
This is WWV Labs’ weekly newsletter: Her Hustle, a place to learn all about the new and the next in female entrepreneurship, and we’re here to help you dive into it. We highlight all the fierce women who are building startups—from those launching from dorm rooms and balancing classes to recent grads and experienced professionals turning their bold visions into reality.
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As 2024 comes to a close, I’m reflecting on an incredible year of growth and lessons. Over the past year, I’ve worked on two startups—MAMAMUSE and WWV Labs—while leading Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship like a bootstrapped startup. Each experience has taught me that the entrepreneurial journey is never a failure, only lessons.
At MAMAMUSE, I focused on tackling systemic barriers for female founders in women’s functional health, presenting my research on censorship in women’s health at NY #TechWeek. While our advocacy earned us an invitation to the UNFPA Equity 2030 Alliance, my co-founder decided to step back for personal reasons, leading us to sunset MAMAMUSE in September—a bittersweet reminder of the challenges female entrepreneurs face.
Shortly after, Adrian and I launched WWV Labs, a platform connecting top female student talent with high-growth startups. In just three months, we’ve grown to over 550 fellows, partnered with 20+ startups, and expanded our newsletter to 4,800 subscribers.
As we prepare for an even bigger 2025, thank you for being part of this journey—we’re just getting started!
Jane Chao, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Ceribell, led the company to a $180.3M IPO in October, surpassing its $101M goal, with shares soaring 70%—cementing Ceribell’s position as a medtech leader transforming critical neurological care in over 500 hospitals worldwide.
Fazit co-founders Aliett Buttelman and Nina LaBruna saw a staggering 3,500% surge in sales and hit seven figures in under 48 hours after Taylor Swift wore their glitter freckles—proof that the "Taylor Swift effect" is transforming female-founded brands.
Jacey Jones, Co-founder of TripSuite (New York, NY), raised $5M led by F-Prime Capital to enhance its AI-powered platform, streamlining travel agency operations and helping travel agencies book over $1 billion annually.
Michelle Hoy, Co-Founder of Vitalic (Boston, MA), raised $4M from Redesign Health and VNS Health to launch a senior-focused behavioral health platform offering telepsychiatric care, coaching, and medication management for older adults.
First-grader Celine Williams, co-founder of Wade & Celine LLC, helped launch "Super Beans" vitamin C jellybeans on Amazon, demonstrating that entrepreneurial vision can begin at any age while making an impact on kids' health products!
Amy Vale, Founder of For the Cubs (Austin, TX), was awarded a $25,000 EmpowHer grant by the Boundless Futures Foundation. The company creates sensitivity-aware products to assist with sleeping and soothing while donating proceeds to support foster children.
January 7 | 🚺 What’s Your Plan in 2025? Take Action on Building Your Career in Women's Health (Virtual)
January 9 | 🧘♀️Building a 10-Step Plan for Your Career in Women's Health (Virtual)
January TBD | 🏝️ I am thinking of hosting a happy hour for female entrepreneurs in Miami—know anyone or a potential partner? Let me know!
January 23 | 🌃 NYC Student Founder Dinner hosted by WWV Labs (NYC)
Hosting an event for women in entrepreneurship?
Share the details with WWV Labs Her Hustle’s community by filling out this form!
Angel Rich and Courtney Keen, MBA, PMP, Co-Founders of CreditRich (Washington, D.C.), raised a historic $100M Series B at a $1 billion valuation. CreditRich, the first Black woman-owned neo-bank, empowers users to improve their credit scores by rounding up spare change to pay bills while providing a full-service payment platform.
Source: Blacknews.com In just 5 months, Siddhi Bansal, as Forge Director of Texas Convergent and a senior at UT Austin, led six startups—including BlueVerse and Jump Finance—to launch impactful solutions like AI-powered platforms and groundwater automation, showcasing the power of student-led innovation under her leadership.
Fatima Sabar, Co-Founder of Bluenote (San Francisco, CA), secured $10M in funding led by Lux Capital and Elad Gil to revolutionize biopharma workflows with generative AI, accelerating life-saving treatments to patients.
Name: Eve Idusuyi
School: Santa Clara University ’25
Major: Finance
Startup: Creditcliq
Sector: Fintech
Description of Startup: At Creditcliq, our vision is to scale trust beyond borders. We are building a super API for Global Credit Data; our fintech solution allows users to share verified home country’s credit histories with financial institutions, fintech innovators, and other credit-dependent enterprises, enabling them to qualify for loans, credit cards, and apartments and other financial products.
Biggest Startup Achievement: Earlier this year, Creditcliq 1.0 (our consumer app) became the #1 free credit score app in Nigeria and educated over 100,000 users on financial literacy and credit awareness. Earlier this month, Creditcliq had the honor of participating in the NBA Semi-Final All-Star Pitch Competition. We are thrilled to be advancing to the NBA Final Pitch.
Biggest Startup Learning Moment: There will be tough days, but your passion, vision, and team will keep you going. At Creditcliq, our vision is to scale trust beyond borders. Every time I reflect on our progress and the people we've helped, I keep pushing forward.
Advice for Female Students Interested in Entrepreneurship: Growing up, I saw my mother thrive in business and my sister’s confidence as a female entrepreneur. They showed me that women are capable. Believe in yourself, let’s uplift each other, and remember: when we rise together, we build something unstoppable
Know a bada$$ female student founder?
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💁♀️ Are you a female student or recent graduate who wants to work at a startup? Apply to WWV Labs Fellowship Program to find ad hoc projects, term-time internships, summer internships, or full-time employment opportunities at startups!
Join our community of 450+ fellows from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and other top universities today!
🌟 foundess’ Hatch is now accepting applications: a free 6-week program for female-led teams in North America to build bold ideas, gain mentorship from top VCs and industry leaders, and compete for $20,000 in prizes with an exclusive IRL demo day in San Francisco!
🚀 The Bain Capital Ventures Labs Fellowship is now accepting applications: a Summer 2025 internship program for tech-focused undergrads, master’s, and PhD candidates to work with BCV-backed startups in Silicon Valley, network with founders and VCs, and access exclusive career opportunities.
💡 Register for Hacking Health 2025 at Columbia University (Feb 8–9, 2025) hosted by the Columbia Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), a 48-hour healthcare hackathon with 150+ participants, mentorship, networking, and prizes in personalized medicine!
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I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
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Love,
Daniela