The Startup Ladies Fund Seeds
Female Founders
The Startup Ladies Fund provides seed grants to members seeking funding to prove out a scalable business concept. Proving out a concept eliminates investment risk down the road because you validate customer wants and needs early on. This Fund provides grant dollars to women founders who may not have access to an established network of angel investors.
Grants may be applied to: product prototyping, wire-framing, technology design and development, and manufacturing a first run of a product to collect feedback from customers.
Past Winners Are Now Investor Ready!
March 2019
$1,000 Grant
FULL-TIME JOB: Therapist
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PROBLEM: Plus size women do not have as many bra options.
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SOLUTION: Build custom solutions for women sizes 38D - 52M
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GRANT USE: Ranada is using her Startup Ladies grant to engineer bra cups that fit women more comfortably.
Ranada Dalton
CEO & Founder
BH Intimates
November 2019
$1,000 Grant
FULL-TIME JOBS: Mom & CEO
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PROBLEM: Parents with children with special needs don't have access to trained caregivers.
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SOLUTION: An online network to connect qualified sitters with families who need them
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GRANT USE: Marie is using her Startup Ladies grant to invest in the platform she developed and help parents find the sitters they need.
Marie Maher
CEO & Founder
Synapse Sitters
Chere Cofer
CEO & Founder
Open Books MD
March 2018
$1,500 Grant
FULL-TIME JOB: Pharmaceutical Sales Representative
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PROBLEM: Doctors miss new drug therapies because they don't want to meet with pharma reps that may delay or disturb patients in the waiting room.
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SOLUTION: A scheduling platform that gives doctors the tools they need to better manage their rep interactions
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GRANT USE: Chere is using her Startup Ladies grant to invest in the platform she developed to connect pharma reps to doctors and caterers.
Apply for a Grant Today!
$100 from every “Investor” and “Support Services” membership
is allocated to The Startup Ladies Fund.
Grant amounts are based on the number of memberships closed within a grant cycle. Applications are rolling and grants are made during pitch competitions twice a year in March, and at our annual anniversary event. Applicants must be able to:
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Define the problem.
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Explain how your company is providing a solution to the problem that you’ve identified.
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Explain how a prototype will allow you to collect customer feedback that will prepare you for manufacturing or a tech build.
If more people invested in startups at this stage, it would grow the pipeline for angel investment firms around the world.