World Business Chicago’s Gender Equity Office has officially announced the third cohort of its Seed Founder Program, featuring nine visionary women entrepreneurs who are driving innovation and redefining industries.
Launched back in 2022, the Seed Founder Program happens to be a 12-month intervention for pre-seed and seed-level women founders, a program designed to offer critical support through tailored mentorship, network introductions, corporate connections, and public relations initiatives.
More on the same would reveal how the initiative in question focuses on relationship-building and community, empowering founders to support one another, and therefore, more effectively navigate shared challenges. You see, leveraging its bid to foster a sense of belonging, as well as equip founders with the tools to overcome systemic barriers, the program treads up a long distance when it comes to leveling the playing field and helping underrepresented founders raise capital at rates comparable to their peers.
Among other things, we ought to mention how the program tracks success through actual dollars raised, connections made, and support provided. Practicing that approach, it revealed that more than 78% of participants across both the previous cohorts reported making at least one valuable connection which meaningfully enhanced their business trajectory. Another detail worth a mention here is rooted in the power of this community being consistently highlighted by participants, with six out of nine founders from the first cohort citing peer connections as a key takeaway.
“Connecting with like-minded, driven women founders who understand the unique challenges we face has been both empowering and enlightening,” said one founder.
As for the founders who managed to get in the latest cohort, they begin from Lily Wang, founder of Demi, the company behind world’s first ever smart composting system which is designed for multifamily. In essence, this composting system turns your trash into a profit center.
Next up, we have Mariana Padilla, founder of Hackerverse. Hackerverse is basically a Sales enablement company that specializes in streamlining the Proof of Concept (PoC) process for B2B cybersecurity companies. Then, there is Ashley Pradhan & Cierra Valor, founders of IN BOLD PRINT, a company well-known for being the TurboTax of Carbon Accounting.
Joining the mix is Jill Miller, founder of Lunum, a company well-equipped to use data to help organizations realize a return on investment in people and communities, while simultaneously recognizing how their practices can have a positive impact on the world.
Prarthana Gupta, founder of OrdrSmart, also made the cut, with the entry coming on the back of OrdrSmart’s ability to digitize the most traditional and widely used manufacturing operation i.e. physical product samples. By doing so, the company helps manufacturers increase revenue, decrease costs, and reduce failure rates.
Hold on, we still haven’t touched on Laura Epstein, founder of Pulse Charter Connect. Basically, Pulse Charter Connect has made a name for itself by digitizing an antiquated logistics system used by transplant centers, helping them instead to facilitate faster, safer, and more efficient transportation for organs and surgical teams.
Rounding up highlights would be Shima Rayej, founder of Safe Rate, an AI-powered mortgage marketplace where consumers find the lowest cost mortgage loan in no more than 30 seconds.
“We are thrilled to welcome this remarkable group of founders to our program,” said Elle Ramel, Lead for Gender Equity Office at World Business Chicago. “Their work exemplifies the creativity, resilience, and leadership needed to drive real change, and we are committed to helping them access the resources and connections they need to thrive.”
Making this initiative even more important is one Chicago:Blend 2024 report on the state of venture for underrepresented founders, among comparable U.S. metro areas. Going by this report, Chicago has the highest percentage of venture-backed companies with at least one woman founder (36.5%) and ranks second for companies founded by people of color (24.4%), Black founders (10.4%), Latin founders (8%), and AAPI founders (5.9%). Now, while Chicago leads in the share of venture capital raised by Latin founders (27.6%) and ranks third for AAPI founders (14.1%), the share of funding raised by women-founded companies (14.9%) remains an area of growth.
