Checks, Compliance, and Construction
Vanta raises $150M, Trunk Tools $40M, and Fortuna Health $18M this week—plus new roles at Knit Health, Kiro, Playground, and more.
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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Sarah Buchner, Founder & CEO of Trunk Tools, a startup building an AI assistant for construction workers, raised $40M in Series B funding led by Insight Partners.
Nikita Singareddy, Co-Founder and CEO of Fortuna Health, a New York City–based healthtech startup simplifying Medicaid enrollment with an intelligent, multilingual platform, raised $18M in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Alexandra Mysoor, Co-Founder and CEO of Alix, a San Francisco-based fintech startup building an AI-powered estate settlement platform, raised $20M in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital.
Christina Cacioppo, Founder & CEO of Vanta, a San Francisco–based security and compliance automation startup, raised $150M at a $4B valuation led by Wellington Management.
Eela Dubey, Co-Founder of EduFund, an Indian fintech platform for education planning and financing, raised $6M in Series A funding led by Cercano Management.
Paloma Newton, Co-Founder of Elita, a Melbourne-based pet genetics startup building a stem-cell bank for Australian pets, raised $1.1M in pre‑seed funding via LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund
Sonam Taneja, Co-Founder of Hudle, a New Delhi–based sports community startup, raised $2.5M in Series A funding led by Sky Impact Capital.
Aveen Kaur, Co-Founder and COO of ANNY, an India-based fashion-tech startup, raised $1.2M in pre-Series A funding led by Atomic Capital.
Bettine Schmitz & Dr. Gesa Miczaika, Co-Founders of Auxxo Capital, a Berlin-based venture capital firm investing exclusively in female-founded startups, raised €26M in the first close of its Female Catalyst Fund II.
💁♀️ 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!
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👩💻 Daniela Andrade dropped a curated list of 15+ recently funded, female-founded startups actively hiring for women seeking roles at high growth, female-founded startups!
🩺 Coord Health is hiring a part‑time engineer! The women’s health startup partners with leading OBGYN practices to support patients between visits and is seeking someone to strengthen its technical foundation, improve patient experience, and scale outcomes trackin
📣 Kiro is hiring a Founding AI Engineer! Kiro is an AI financial co‑pilot helping young adults make confident money decisions, backed by NSF, the U.S. government, Founders Factory, and Aviva. This full‑time US‑based role (SF hybrid preferred) is a rare 0→1 opportunity to lead engineering across AI infra, LLMs, RAG, and open banking integrations while scaling from 1K to 50K users.
🚀 Afore Capital is flying out top student founders this fall for a 2‑month program in SF! Get $20K–$100K in funding, space to build, mentorship from experienced founders, and intros to 200+ top VCs—whether you’re pre‑idea, pre‑product, or just starting out.
🤖 Knit Health is hiring an AI Engineer! The SF startup is building a foundation model using imitation learning, causal inference, and RL to tackle major healthcare problems. You’ll work on core model development with a fast-moving research and engineering team. Reach out to Knit Health directly or contact WWV Labs for a referral.
💖 Mission-driven companies are hiring right now! Caitlin Cooke shared a massive list of active roles across education, public impact, and climate—from startups like ClassDojo, Khan Academy, and Paces to orgs like Watershed, Afresh, and Self Financial. Tons of remote and US-based opportunities to work on meaningful problems.
📣 Cerca is hiring paid Campus Ambassadors as they tour 25+ colleges this fall on their branded bus. Ambassadors get compensation, custom merch, and a shot at full‑time roles post‑grad.
🔥 Refery.io shared 25+ early-stage NYC startups that just raised millions and are hiring! Companies include Privy ($15M), Ambrook ($26M), Roots ($22M), Raspberry AI ($24M), and many more across AI, fintech, health, and SaaS—perfect for anyone looking to join breakout startups early.
📈 Also Capital is hiring its first Analyst! This is not a typical role—you’ll work directly with Founder Mike Annunziata as a “mini Solo GP,” gaining autonomy and responsibility over time. No venture experience required. Applications are open now!
🩺 Laptis is hiring a Founding Engineer to build AI-enabled infrastructure for substance use treatment. You’ll work directly with the co-founders to design core systems, solve technical challenges, and ship software improving care for high-need population.
📣 Playground is hiring a growth marketer in NYC! Perfect for early‑career candidates (0–2 YOE), Playground is childcare management software that handles billing, attendance, registration, communication, paperwork, payroll, and more for childcare programs.
🔍 CloudEagle.ai is hiring an Associate Product Manager (Intern to Hire)! A 3‑month remote internship for students graduating in 2025 or recent grads passionate about product management, with potential to convert to full‑time.
🚀 PlayMaker is hiring a Senior Backend Engineer in NYC to help redefine the future of sports sponsorships—joining a scrappy team building software with top sports teams and brands in a $100B industry.
🔥 Hybr is hiring a Founder’s Associate in London—an opportunity to work directly with the CEO on sales, ops, fundraising, and product strategy while building the “HubSpot of student lettings.”
Avni Barman shared her experience speaking at FoundHer House—an all‑female hacker house in Silicon Valley filled with ambitious women building startups that could become the next unicorns.
Christie Horvath, CEO of Wagmo, created a living Google Doc of VC funds actively investing in women and diverse founders—after receiving dozens of new suggestions and calls for international recommendations.
Regina Lin introduced Dex by ThirdLayer (YC W25), the world’s first AI browser copilot—built to eliminate the mind‑numbing workflows of spreadsheets, docs, and emails that billions face daily.
Kathrin Folkendt highlighted new research showing that closing the women’s brain health gap could add $1T to the global economy by 2040—calling for more funding, de‑biasing healthcare systems, and investing in women’s brain health across the lifespan.
Girls Into VC shared why X, Reddit, and LinkedIn are powerful tools for VCs to discover early‑stage founders.
A new post shared the top 25 blogs to learn everything about startups—featuring Y Combinator, TechCrunch, a16z, Sequoia Capital, and more.
July 31 | 👩💻 Women in Tech (NYC)
August 4 | 🎉 Internapalooza (SF)
August 8 | ☕ Founders + Funders: Getting Ready for Fall Fundraising (NYC)
August 12 | ✨ Miss EmpowHer IT Girl Walk (NYC)
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Love,
Daniela & The WWV Labs Team