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11/02/12 | Uncategorized

Female Founders To Follow: 500 Startups’ Women Entrepreneurs

Out of the 33 companies selected for 500 Startups’ fifth class, 7 companies boast at least one female founder on the team.
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

An early-stage seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, California, 500 Startups invests primarily in consumer and SMB internet startups, and related web infrastructure services.

This week, 7 companies out of 33 companies announced as selected incubator program companies boast a female founder.

Meet the 8 female founders in 500 Startups’ current class:

Carrie Phillips (Co-Founder & Creative Officer, LaunchGram)
Designer Carrie Phillips co-founded LaunchGram, simplifying news for products or initiatives that have not launched or reached completion without ever violating our users’ privacy or trust. LaunchGram originated at a Startup Weekend. Follow her on Twitter at @CarrieFlips.

Cjin Cheng (Co-Founder, Cubie Messenger)
Hailing from Taiwan and currently in Mountain View, California, Cjin Cheng co-founded Cubie Messenger, a messaging app on iPhone and Android that lets you create and share drawings while chatting. Cubie hit a million downloads in 6 months. Follow her on Twitter at @cjin.

Elyse Petersen (Founder, Tealet)
Hawaii-based experienced food scientist Elyse Petersen founded Tealet to provide farmers an opportunity to present their stories and tea to the US market. The US market sees a 20% reduction in price for the consumer. Follow her on Twitter at @peaceelyse.

Mayara Campos (Co-Founder & CPO, UniPay & Mimpi)
Startup and social gaming enthusiast Mayara Campos co-founded Brazilian mobile payments company Mimpi. The first product is UniPay for easy credit card payments via cell phones in their hometown of São Paulo. Follow her on Twitter at @mayahc.

Natalie Gordon (Founder, BabyList)
Former Amazon.com software developer and new mom Natalie Gordon is now the solo founder at BabyList, the baby registry that lets you register for exactly what you want for your baby from the retailers of your choice, like Etsy. Follow her on Twitter at @natgordon.

Sarah Ware (Co-Founder, Markerly)
DC-based Sarah Ware co-founded Markerly, a social lifestyle sharing and bookmarking community. Markerly helps increase publisher’s page views and engagement with interactive sharing and discovery tools. Follow her on Twitter at @WareSarah.

Tahiana D’Egmont (Co-Founder & CEO, UniPay & Mimpi)
Hailing from Brazil, digital entrepreneur Tahiana D’Egmont heads mobile payments company Mimpi. Their product UniPay is working to make accepting credit cards easy for everyone in Brazil with their cell phones. Follow her on Twitter at @TahiDegmont.

Tracy Lawrence (Founder & CEO, Chewse)
Los Angeles-based Tracy Lawrence spent years in the hospitality industry watching catering experience problems, so she’s working on Chewse to optimize menus and ordering catering, making the process a fun and easy experience. Follow her on Twitter at @chewse.

It was over a year ago when 500 Startups founding parter Dave McClure warmed hearts with stating on video: “Women founders or co-founders are probably 20-25% of the [500 Startups] portfolio. I do look for [women founders] now because it’s an advantage. My intent is to corner the market on awesome smart women founders because there are plenty of them out and if there is any bias whatsoever, we’d like to selfishly take advantage of that.”

Harvard Business Review recently proclaimed that more women in the workforce could raise GDP by 5%.

Check out the video announcing the new class, featuring all the new companies in 500 Startups.

Women 2.0 readers: What is your favorite 500 Startups company? Let us know in the comments below.

Angie Chang is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Women 2.0, a media company offering content, community and conferences for aspiring and current women innovators in technology. Our mission is to increase the number of female founders of technology startups with inspiration, information and education through our platform. Previously, Angie held roles in product management and web UI design. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.

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