Republic, a leading investment crowdfunding platform, has revealed the winners of the inaugural “SheWorx Equity Crowdfunding Challenge.”
SheWorx was acquired by Republic earlier this year. SheWorx is a global platform empowering 20,000+ female entrepreneurs to launch successful companies.
Republic, which is an impact-driven platform, notes that female founders have historically captured less than 2.2% of VC funding. When it comes to online capital formation, women “actually outperform men by 30%” reports Republic.
Republic held the SheWorx Equity Crowdfunding Challenge to “provide selected female founders from the SheWorx community with comprehensive hands-on training and resources to launch their investment campaign.”
Four female founders were selected as part of the challenge. Judges included SheWorx Founder and Former CEO Lisa Wang; IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn Founder Cindy Gallup; Crunchbase News Head of Strategic Research and Content Gené Teare; and Inc. Editor-At-Large Kimberly Weisul. Each of the winners will gain access to Republic’s network of investors, partners, events and more.
The winners are:
- Caroll Lee, Provenance Meals – organic prepared meal delivery for busy people
- Rebecca Lima, The Lieu – feminine care subscription service for workplaces
- Roxane Mollicchi, Wandering Barman – bottled cocktails handcrafted in Brooklyn
- Rechelle Balanzat, Juliette* – premium laundry and dry cleaning
The judging panel included prominent industry leaders who reviewed nearly 100 entries. Esteemed
Bianca Caban, SheWorx CEO and Republic’s Head of Partnerships, said they were overwhelmed by the amount of interest in the first SheWorx Equity Crowdfunding Challenge:
“These four female founders have built impressive businesses and we’re honored to reward and support them on their Republic investment campaigns. This marks the first batch of winners for what will become a biannual challenge,” said Caban.
The winners will have the opportunity to pitch this week (Nov. 8) at Founders + Funders NYC, a one-day conference in New York City.
The next SheWorx Equity Crowdfunding Challenge and selection of the second SheWorx Fundraising Batch will commence in early 2020.
Republic reports that its investor base has funneled over $28M into 100+ startups. Its institutional/accredited investor base has deployed $150M+ since 2018. To date, 40% of all investments on Republic have gone towards female-founded startups.
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