Insurance, Intuition, Interns
Lead Bank $70M, Kite $18M, Revalia $14.5M+, Arcarae $2.5M, and more — plus Lapee’s viral urinals, Salish Matter’s Sephora debut, and new gigs from Phia to Underscore VC
This is WWV Labs’ weekly newsletter: Her Hustle, a place to learn all about the new and the next in female entrepreneurship. We highlight the women who are building startups—from those launching from dorm rooms to experienced professionals turning their bold visions into reality.
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Jacqueline Reses, CEO of Lead Bank, a Kansas City-based banking-as-a-service platform serving top fintechs and digital asset companies, raised $70M in Series B funding led by ICONIQ and Greycroft.
Chi Zhang, Co-Founder & CEO of Kite, a San Francisco-based blockchain startup building infrastructure for the Agentic Internet, raised $18M in Series A funding led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst.
Jenna DiRito, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Revalia Bio, a New Haven-based biotech startup pioneering human data trials to accelerate drug development, raised $14.5M in seed funding led by America’s Frontier Fund and Sierra Ventures.
Alexandra French, CEO of Xampla, a Cambridge, UK-based climate tech company developing plant-based alternatives to single-use plastics, raised $14M in Series A funding led by Emerald Technology Ventures.
Nicole Hsing, Founder & CEO of Arcarae, an AI company developing cognitive architectures for higher-order intuition and self-discovery, raised $2.5M in funding.
Hana Yang, Co-Founder & CXO of Allocate, a Palo Alto-based platform modernizing private market investing, raised $30.5M in Series B funding led by Portage.
Grace Hanson, Co-Founder & CEO of Elysian, a Nashville-based AI-native TPA for commercial insurance claims, raised $6M in seed funding led by Portage.
Anita Liu, Co-Founder of Loman AI, an Austin-based Voice AI platform helping restaurants capture more sales and reduce labor costs, raised $3.5M in seed funding led by Next Coast Ventures.
Gina Périér, Founder & CEO of Lapee, a Copenhagen-based startup known for its viral pink urinals designed for women and gender non-conforming people, raised €800K in funding led by Best Nights VC.
🎥 Wispr Flow is giving an intern $250,000 to hire 10 Content Creators (students & young people) to make 5–7 videos/week, with a retainer + big bonuses, while learning how to create viral content.
🌟 Kahani is hiring Interns (UI/UX, Software Engineering, Data Science, Marketing, UGX) to build an app reimagining therapy through personalized, evidence-based care.
💃 Phia is hiring Swift UI Engineering Interns in NYC to join their fast-growing social fashion app (430K+ users in 4 months).
🩺 Apovo is hiring Software Engineering Interns (Fall 2025–Spring 2026, remote-friendly) to build AI tools that help breast cancer patients navigate care.
📚 RevisionDojo (YC F24) is hiring Fall Research Interns to work on AI-driven study tools that personalize learning for students worldwide.
🤝 Sonder is hiring its Founding Engineers in SF to tackle cutting-edge AI + human intimacy problems.
🤖 Simple AI (YC S24) is hiring Founding Engineers in SF to build AI phone agents for enterprises.
📈 Multiple top VC firms — including Dorm Room Fund, Inflect Capital, Alix Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Draper Associates, Impactful Capital, H/L Ventures, and Khosla Ventures — are hiring Fall Fellows/Interns (apps rolling, deadlines in Sept).
🚀 Underscore VC is hiring Boston-based Venture Fellows (apps due Sept 25) to scout founders, build startup relationships, and get front-row access to early-stage venture.
👩💻 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!
💁♀️ Are you a young professional, college student, or graduate school student who wants to work at a startup or SMB? Apply to WWV Labs to get matched with freelance, fractional, and full-time opportunities at top startups & SMBs.
Twill CEO Michelle Volberg shared that most outreach from Stanford, Harvard, and Yale grads misses the mark. She responds to clear, short asks that show research or value — not long life stories.
a16z GP Angela Strange said startups often win simply by replying first — buyers pick the vendor who answers within the hour, schedules the demo, and shows up fastest.
At 15, Salish Matter just landed a Sephora exclusive with her Gen Z skincare brand Sincerely Yours — dermatologist-tested, built for teen skin, and already drawing launch-day lines.
Simmi Sen announced she’s leaving Stanford to build Crebit, a fintech startup backed by $450K that helps international students save on tuition payments with stablecoins and credit union partnerships.
Delve’s COO (Selin Kocalar) spotlighted two powerhouse new female hires — Leah Wolf left Stanford to join the team after leading ML labs, while Agnes Shan fast-tracked her CS degree in 3 years and scaled a freelance dev business to 200+ customers. Both ramped up in days and are already shipping product!
YouTube banned Rescripted’s science-backed birth control content as “dangerous” — while running ads for gambling, junk food, and ED meds. CEO Abby Mercado is fighting back, building a platform where women’s health isn’t silenced and facts come before algorithms.
Zainabou Thiam, founder of Sunu Body, just made Boston’s 25 Under 25. What started with $100 and a vision for African-inspired beauty has grown into a brand earning citywide recognition.
Daniela Andrade revealed her 1.5-year fight for justice after being assaulted at Harvard. This week, her abuser pled guilty — and she’s calling on survivors everywhere to document, speak up, and refuse to be silenced.
Laura Okafor launched Perry Academy, an accredited platform tackling the massive gap in menopause training — only 20% of OBGYNs get formal education. Backed by 500K+ patient insights and top experts, Perry is redefining women’s health education one certification at a time.
Julia Alvarenga shared an AI-generated photo with Julia Roberts to highlight marketing’s authenticity crisis — when fakes are easier to make than real content, the ultimate edge is proving what’s true.
September 6-7 | 🤖 AI-Powered Women Conference (Cambridge, MA)
September 10 | 💡 Tech Week TIMEOUT with HUMN (Cambridge, MA)
September 10 | 🧋 Women in GTM End of Summer Offline Mixer (Toronto)
September 10 | 🌸 Women’s Circle: Entrepreneurship & Empowerment (Edmonton)
September 15 | 🤝 Pillar VC NYC Co-founder Match Event (NYC)
September 16 | 🍵 Gen Z NYC Founder & Creator Mixer (NYC)
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I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
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Love,
Daniela & The WWV Labs Team