Crowdfunding for Women-Owned Companies

Although the number of women-owned businesses keeps growing, startups led by women continue to fall behind their male counterparts when it comes to raising venture funding.

Women-led startups consistently receive less than 2% of U.S. venture capital, per Crunchbase data. That’s despite delivering 2.5x better returns than male-founded startups, research shows.

What's the deal and what's the solution?  

Former PayPal executive Molly Huyck teamed up with Amie Konwinski, a U.S. Navy veteran and marketing executive, to found Aequitas Invest, an SEC-registered, funding portal.

Aequitas Invest is a space where women founders share their journeys – and investors learn how Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) works to expand access to capital for women-led startups.

Don't Take a Back Seat to Anyone

Representatives from Microsoft, PayPal, Google and the SBDC Pennsylvania recently hosted a seminar "Tips from the Pros: Using Technology and Online Tools to Boost Your Small Business."  They talked about the latest products and services offered by those companies and gave tips for businesses to effectively use various forms of technology.

Marino [U.S. Rep. Tom Marino] said because his wife owns a small business, he sees and understands the challenges small business owners, especially women, face on a regular basis, and he respects them for the hurdles they have to overcome.
“The women I’ve dealt with in small business, they don’t take a back seat to anybody,” he said.

Read more:  Representatives from Microsoft, PayPal, Google and local organizations offer tips for small business owners