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07/13/12 | Uncategorized

12 Female Founders Cooking Up Innovative Food-Related Startups

Meet the women entrepreneurs of Thryve, Foodily, Local Dirt, Cookooree, Revolution Foods and more.

By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

In addition to the growing army of food trucks and lasting local/sustainable food movement, there are plenty of interesting startups in the food space to watch.

Women-led ventures take fooding to the next level by applying new technology to the existing industry.

From building useful mobile apps to disrupting school lunches nationwide, here are 12 women entrepreneurs working on a vast smorgasbord of high-tech, high-growth food-related ventures:

Aihui Ong (Founder & CEO, Love With Food)
Developer-turned-entrepreneur Aihui Ong launched Love With Food to combine her two passions: coding and fooding. The gourmet food subscription box service with a philanthropic twist recently announced raising $645k in seed funding. Follow her on Twitter at @aihui.

Alexa Andrzejewski (Co-Founder & CEO, Foodspotting)
Interaction designer Alexa Andrzejewski co-founded Foodspotting, a web and mobile app helping you find and recommend dishes instead of just restaurants. Foodspotting raised $750k in seed funding in 2010 and $3M Series A in 2011. Follow her on Twitter at @ladylexy.

Andrea Cutright (Co-Founder & CEO, Foodily)
Cal alum Andrea Cutright co-founded Foodily, bringing together a continuous feed of recipes from across the web that your friends have discovered. Foodily raised $5M in venture funding from Index Ventures in 2010. Follow her on Twitter at @foodily.

Emily Olson (Co-Founder & Chief Foodie, Foodzie)
Foodie Emily Olson co-founded Foodzie, an artisanal food subscription box service that graduated from TechStars and moved to San Francisco. Foodzie was acquired by Joyus in June 2012. Follow her startup on Twitter at @emilyolson.

Heather Hilleren (Founder & CEO, Local Dirt)
Ethical foodie and serial entrepreneur Heather Hilleren founded Local Dirt, your place to find and buy fresh, local food directly from the family farm. Local Dirt is funded by the National Science Foundation. Follow her on Twitter at @localdirt.

Hillary Mickell (Co-Founder & CMO, Foodily)
Internet marketer Hillary Mickell co-founded Foodily. In 2011, Foodily launched a Facebook app offering more refined and friend-approved recipes than you would get by plugging search terms in Google. Follow her on Twitter at @hmickell.

Joanie McCollom (Founder & Designer, Cookooree)
Designer Joanie McCollom launched Cookooree, a social recipe-sharing platform that makes it super easy to post recipes and see what your friends are cooking. Share your recipes and discover new ones from palettes you know and trust. Follow her on Twitter at @anthroatlarge.

Kirsten Tobey (Co-Founder, Revolution Foods)
Former educator Kirsten Tobey met her co-founder at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where they hatched the plan for Revolution Foods, serving large school systems and underserved schools as well as grocery stores Follow her on Twitter at @kirstentobey.

Kristin Groos Richmond (Co-Founder & CEO, Revolution Foods)
Seven years ago, Kristin Groos Richmond co-founded Revolution Foods to provide healthy, fresh, affordable meals to school districts. Revolution Foods recorded 2011 revenue of $28.1 million and a 3-year growth rate of 196%. Follow her on Twitter at @revolutionfoods.

Lisa Q. Fetterman (Co-Founder, Nomiku)
Sous vide guru Lisa Q. Fetterman wants to democratize the precision cooking process for all, co-founding Nomiku with her husband. The Kickstarter project has raised 2x the amount sought – and there’s still 5 days left! Follow her on Twitter at @eatnomiku.

Nicole Mercer (Co-Founder & CCO, Thryve)
Industrial designer Nicole Mercer co-founded Thryve, a mobile food coach that tracks your meals and how you’re feeling – helping you navigate a path to better health and happier days. Follow her on Twitter at @miss_diagnosed.

Ooshma Garg (Founder & CEO, Gobble)
Serial entrepreneur Ooshma Garg founded Gobble, an online marketplace for home-cooked food. In 2011, she raised $1.2M in funding from investors including Reid Hoffman, Felicis Ventures, Founder Collective, SV Angel and Thrive Capital Follow her on Twitter at @ooshma.

Know more female founders of food/tech startups? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo credit: Foodily blog.

Angie Chang co-founded Women 2.0 in 2006. She currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Women 2.0 and is working to mainstream women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. Previously, Angie held roles in product management and web UI design. In 2008, Angie launched Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners, asking that guys come as the “+1” for once. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland, an intern with Women 2.0, was on the StartupBus. She studies neuroscience at Mount Holyoke College, where she is trying to merge a passion for tech and the brain into a new wave of cognition-based technology

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