Kicking off February with This Week’s Female Founder Report
$150M+ Raised: The Biggest Wins for Female Founders This Week, UGA Female Student Founders Are Scaling Fast, Hey Jane Faces Online Censorship of Women’s Health Content
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.
Welcome to the new readers who have joined us since the last issue!
If you haven’t yet, join our community of 7,100+ readers by subscribing below.
*We deliver in-depth research, but your inbox may limit our message. To read the full newsletter, please access it through our Substack site here.
Rachel Blank, Founder & CEO of Allara Health (NYC), a women’s hormone telehealth platform, raised $26M in Series B funding led by Index Ventures with participation from GV. Blank, diagnosed with PCOS.
Simin Gharib Lee and Lauren McConnell, Co-Founders of Systole Health (Boston), a virtual group care platform for women’s heart health, raised $2M in pre-seed funding led by Benchstrength, with support from January Ventures, J Ventures, and Tom X. Lee.
Tiffany Lopinsky, Co-Founder of ShopMy (NYC), a creator marketing platform, secured $77.5M in Series B funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and others.
UGA’s female student founders are scaling fast—hitting $100K in revenue, landing national TV features, and launching major brand collaborations.
Gaofei Zhang, Ph.D. candidate and Founder of MOGSki, launched a luxury winter boot brand inspired by Mongolian craftsmanship after winning UConn’s Innovation Quest, gaining mentorship, startup funding, and a path to market.
Kara Egan, Co-Founder & CEO of Teal Health (SF), a women’s health company developing an at-home cervical cancer screening device, raised $10M in funding led by Emerson Collective and Forerunner, with participation from Serena Ventures and Metrodora.
Abigail Holloway White, Co-Founders of Closinglock (Austin), a real estate fraud prevention technology provider, raised $34M in Series B funding led by Sageview Capital.
Giselle Go, Co-Founder & CEO of DAMDAM (Tokyo), a Japanese beauty brand, secured $3M in seed funding led by Silas Capital.
Kim Zou, Co-Founder & CEO of Sightline (London), an AI-powered climate economy market intelligence platform, raised $5.5M in seed funding led by The Westly Group and Molten Ventures.
Chicago sisters Jade and Joy Lee, ages 12 and 11, turned their lemonade stand success into "Lemons with Love," a children’s book inspiring young entrepreneurs, and are now headed to NBA All-Star Weekend to learn the business side of sports.
Dr Bea Bakshi, Co-Founder & CEO of C the Signs (London), an AI-driven early cancer detection platform, raised $8M in funding from Khosla Ventures.
Lily Vittayarukskul, Co-Founder & CEO of Waterlily (SF), an AI-powered financial planning platform for long-term care, raised $7M in seed funding led by Brewer Lane Ventures.
Fajer Mushtaq, Co-Founder & CEO of Oxyle (Zurich), a water contamination treatment startup, raised $15.7M in seed funding led by 360 Capital and Axeleo Capital. Musthaq’s team is developing scalable technology to permanently remove toxic PFAS chemicals from water.
Polina Vorms, Co-Founder of Zelt (London), an all-in-one people operations platform, raised $6M in funding led by Nauta Capital, with backing from Venrex and Episode 1, to streamline HR, finance, and IT for scaling companies.
February 4 | 🏛️ Unusual Ventures University Founder Fellowship Event (Boston)
February 7 | 🏛️ Harvard Undergraduate Women in Entrepreneurship Cross-University Female Entrepreneurial Mixer (Boston)
February 7 | 🍽️ LA Female Founders Lunch (LA)
February 7-8 | 👩💻 FEMHACK: All-Female Hackathon hosted by Fierce Foundry (NYC)
February 10 | 🌃 Female Founders & Funders Networking (NYC)
February 11 | 🥂 Women in Miami Tech February Happy Hour (NYC)
February 19 | 🌃 Women in Robotics NYC – (re)Introductory Meetup (NYC)
February 22 | 🏛️ Harvard Business School Women in Business Conference (Boston)
March 21 | 👩💻 Go Beyond 2% - Women's Leadership Conference (San Francisco)
Hosting an event for women in entrepreneurship?
Share the details with WWV Labs Her Hustle’s community by filling out this form!
Eight women-led startups just hit $1B+ valuations, including Kindbody (women’s health), Imbue (AI agents), and Ohmium (hydrogen energy)—proving that female founders are building the future of tech, AI, and healthcare!
Portfolia just closed its third femtech fund at $4.15M with backing from 249 LPs—90% of them women—fueling startups tackling women’s health, fertility, menopause, and more in a push to reshape healthcare investing!
Hey Jane, the virtual women’s healthcare platform founded by Kiki Freedman, is facing shadow bans and content deletions on Meta, raising urgent concerns about the censorship of legal, essential reproductive healthcare services online.
This past summer, my co-founder Lucy Nicholls and I partnered with the UN Population Fund Equity 2030 Alliance and presented my Harvard Law School research on online censorship of women’s reproductive and sexual content and its impact on public health and women’s health commerce at NY Tech Week.
If you'd like to gain more context on the online censorship of women's health content, feel free to review our presentation here.
Bailey Ehrens, a Yale MBA candidate, is building Tennie, a professional clothing platform designed to give the next generation of working women the confidence to thrive—follow along at tennieclothing.com as she turns this vision into reality!
Zehra Naqvi, founder of Lore, is on a mission to bring back the magic of the internet—her new platform is designed for deep dives, discovery, and storytelling beyond the algorithm. Join the waitlist here!
Iman Abuzeid just joined the elite ranks of Black and Latina female founders with $1B+ startups, proving that being selective with investors is a power move—because shifting the <2% of VC funding to women starts at the cap table!
Name: Samira Salifu
School: Drexel University ‘26
Major: Computer Science
Startup: Masari Tech
Sector: Fashion Tech
Description of Startup: Masari Tech uses AI to help fashion brands reduce returns, solve sizing issues, and improve customer satisfaction - all while empowering creativity and making fashion personal again.
Biggest Startup Achievement: 1) Recognized as a Forbes Under 30 rising star, 2) Accepted into Foundess, standing out among 700+ applicants.
Biggest Startup Learning Moment: I learned that the key to a successful startup lies in two essential roles: the visionary, who drives innovation and sets the direction, and the operator, who ensures flawless execution and stability. Together, they create harmony, turning dreams into reality. Find your other half, and you’ll unlock the magic of exponential growth.
Advice for Female Students Interested in Entrepreneurship: It wouldn't be in your heart if you weren't capable. If you fall, just know it's part of the journey—but you’ll have a community of female entrepreneurs ready to lift you. All you need is the courage to rise and try again. Remember, it's you vs you!
Know a bada$$ female student founder?
Nominate her or yourself to be featured in Her Hustle’s newsletter by completing this form!
💁♀️ 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 750+ fellows from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UC Berkeley, and other top universities today!
💰 Harvard-affiliated female founders—apply now for the 3rd annual HBS WSA Female Founders Pitch Competition on Feb 22, 2025, for a chance to pitch to investors and win one of three non-dilutive cash prizes! Apply here.
💰 NGEN, in partnership with BullMont Capital, is awarding a $10,000 SAFE investment to top student-led startups—apply here by March 1st for a chance to pitch at the Trailblazers Conference in NYC on April 11th!
🚀 Graham & Walker is hiring for a high-impact role managing founder communities, events, and platform growth—an unbeatable apprenticeship for early-career go-getters looking to break into venture! Apply here.
💰 Student and recent alum founders in the U.S. & U.K.! Honors Fund is hosting its first-ever $150K online university pitch competition on February 12th, with applications due February 3rd—apply here for a chance to win live investment!
📈 Pink Chip, backed by UN Women Netherlands, is taking on market bias by proving that female-led companies outperform, with its first index tracking U.S. companies run by women CEOs with strong revenue growth and $2B+ market caps—subscribe here to stay informed and support their mission!
💰 Penn student founders! The WUEC x Center City Ventures Accelerator offers an 8-week mentorship program leading up to a $50,000 SAFE investment opportunity at Demo Day on April 18th—apply here by February 15th to be considered!
💰 Penn student founders! Venture Lab’s 2025 Start-Up Challenge is offering $150,000+ in prizes across multiple categories—apply here by February 2nd for a chance to pitch live at the finals on May 2nd!
👩💻 Nosu (venture-backed startup) is recruiting an Operations Engineering Intern & paying $20/hour! This remote role is open to all ages and international students, with no technical interview required—apply here before it closes!
💰 These 18 women-led VC funds are rewriting the rules of venture capital, backing female founders in tech, healthcare, e-commerce, and beyond—because 2% isn’t enough! Check out the full list here and find your next funding opportunity.
🛂 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!
📊 Accountalent, the leading tax and accounting firms for over 5,000 startups, has offered to file 2024 taxes for any undergraduate female-founded and managed startup corporation totally free of charge. This includes filing the Federal and State corporate tax returns, DE Franchise tax return, Form 1099s, consulting on tax matters, etc. It also includes preparing 2024 financial statements.
Joe Faris, CPA, founder of Accountalent has conducted Office Hours for many years at Harvard, MIT and UChicago and has worked with hundreds of female founders, including many foreign founders. Feel free to email him or make an appointment on his online calendar to redeem this perk or if you have any tax questions:
Joe Faris, CPA, jfaris@accountalent.com, Online Calendar: https://calendly.com/joefaris
🚀 Share this newsletter with a friend and start growing your network.
💁♀️ Connect with me on LinkedIn for daily insights on women in entrepreneurship.
📈 Partner with WWV Labs if you are a startup interested in hiring top female talent.
🌟 Promote yourself to 7,100+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, Hustlers!
Feel free to share your feedback on this newsletter with me by filling out this form!
Love,
Daniela