From Ideas to Impact
This week: NYC’s Female Founders Rise with $2.5B, Oula’s $50M Redefines Pregnancy Care, Canva’s $26B Journey, and unicorn startups are becoming more inclusive, with healthcare at 11% female founders.
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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Wow, November flew by, and I can’t believe Thanksgiving is already here! This week was a whirlwind, but what a week it was! I co-organized not one, but TWO incredible events. On Monday, Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship teamed up with Foundess, and on Friday, we joined forces with Harvard Ventures and the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.
Together, these events brought over 400+ brilliant student innovators from 15+ universities. All I can say is: WOW. I’m so proud of my team and myself for pulling it all off with such success and energy!
This time last year, my life looked so different. I wasn’t part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. I wasn’t posting on LinkedIn or curating a brand. I wasn’t part of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship or hosting events to empower young innovators. I was navigating the aftermath of one of the toughest chapters of my life. And yet, here I am today.
This is proof of how far you can go when you surround yourself with the right community, stay fiercely committed to your goals, and remain patient with your journey. Growth takes time, but with persistence and passion, it’s unstoppable.
If you need the motivation to take that next bold step, let this be it: You are capable, you are worthy, and the future is waiting for you to build it.
Female founders in NYC secured $2.5B in 2024 YTD, just 10.3% of total VC funding, but initiatives like Brilliant Minds and "Show Her the Money," which raised $6M for women-led startups, are driving change in the ecosystem.
Wharton sophomores Meha Gaba and Yochi Hobson are redefining campus commerce with their new app, agora, designed to streamline peer-to-peer item exchanges while promoting sustainability and community among Penn students.
Bitget’s "Pitch n' Slay" spotlighted female blockchain founders, awarding $10K grants to top startups, with Julija Bainiaksina's AI-as-a-service project MiniMe taking first place and advancing to the Blockchain4Her Accelerator Program, part of a $10M initiative empowering women-led Web3 ventures.
Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders of theSkimm, launched the #Don’tWait campaign and a free health-tracking tool to empower women to prioritize preventative care, addressing a critical gap as nearly 50% of women skip key medical appointments.
Female-founded Desolas Mezcal has been awarded Best of Class in the Mezcal category at the 2024 New York World Spirits Competition.
Malin Schmidt, founder and CEO of Sweden’s Kodiak Hub, secures €6M to scale her AI-driven supplier relationship platform globally, empowering procurement leaders in 176 countries while saving users up to 10 hours a week and 7-10% on costs.
December 6 | 🃏 Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship Women's Poker Night (Boston)
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Female founders are gaining ground in unicorn startups, with healthcare unicorns leading at 11% female founders—nearly triple IT’s 4%—highlighting a significant shift toward inclusivity in venture-backed success.
Adrianne Nickerson and Elaine Purcell, founders of Oula, are redefining maternity care with their $50M-backed hybrid model of in-person and virtual services, spotlighted as a top U.S. startup of 2024 by LinkedIn.
Nearly 1 in 5 female billionaires focus on nonprofits rather than funding female founders, highlighting a massive untapped potential to fuel women-led social-impact ventures and game-changing startups.
After 100 rejections, Canva founder Melanie Perkins built a $26B design powerhouse, now the world's most valuable female-founded startup, proving that persistence turns bold ideas into global successes.
Name: Sheikha Al-Otaibi
School: Babson College Class of 2025
Major: Business Administration: Entrepreneurship and Sales
Startup: Interlix Staffing
Sector: Staffing and Recruitment
Description of Startup: At Interlix Staffing we specialize in the placement of elite remote business professionals and software developers from Latin America to companies in the United States. These professionals are equipped with prior experience at esteemed multinational companies such as PWC, Ernst & Young, and Google. We bring a fresh perspective to talent acquisition, combining quality and cost-effectiveness.
Biggest Startup Achievement: One of our biggest achievements as a startup was being featured in a Forbes article and recognized for the quality of talent that we have placed in companies and the value that remote talent from Latin America can bring to companies in the United States who want to have talent offshore.
Biggest Startup Learning Moment: The most significant lesson we learned at Interlix Staffing was the importance of focusing on full-time placements. Initially, we placed professionals in roles with less than 30 hours of work per week, but this approach proved unsustainable for both our clients and candidates. By transitioning exclusively to full-time placements, with a minimum workload of 30 hours, we streamlined our operations and significantly elevated the success and stability of our business.
Advice for Female Students Interested in Entrepreneurship: My advice for female students pursuing entrepreneurship is to build a supportive community of like-minded women, whether they are aspiring entrepreneurs or already established in the field. Having women who truly understand your journey can provide invaluable support, inspiration, and guidance—it can make all the difference.
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💁♀️ Looking for a winternship? 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 400+ fellows from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and other top universities today!
Theanna is a data-driven network that activates female tech founders from $0 to $1M ARR, providing support through networking, milestone tracking, events, and more. Get early access here.
👩💻 Palantir's Semester at Palantir internship is now accepting applications for Spring 2025—offering students the chance to take a semester off to work on real-world technical challenges in data-driven solutions, empowering major institutions while gaining invaluable industry experience.
🛂 If you're an international student founder aiming to work in the U.S. on your startup or join a startup team, Alcorn Immigration Law offers personalized guidance to secure the right visas and green cards to help bring your entrepreneurial dreams to life—reach out to Sophie and mention you were referred by Daniela Andrade, WWV Labs!
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Love,
Daniela