Women Founders Network Announces Ten Finalists Who Will Compete for $55,000 in Cash and $100,000 in Services at Tenth Annual Fast Pitch Competition
Companies in two tracks, Tech/Tech-Enabled and Consumer/CPG, address a host of issues with innovative solutions to make our lives easier, happier, healthier, and more productive
LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) July 26, 2022
Women Founders Network (“WFN”) announced the ten finalists who will compete in its Tenth Annual Fast Pitch Competition on October 25, 2022. Five finalists were selected in each of two tracks: Tech/Tech-enabled companies and Consumer/CPG companies. The competition awards early-stage women-led startups a total of $55,000 cash and $100,000 in professional services.
Cash prizes totaling $50,000 will be awarded by WFN judges and an additional $5,000 cash prize will be awarded to a Fast Pitch company selected by our Junior Judges. The Junior Judge Program empowers girls in grades 9-12 to participate in the process and learn about investing and entrepreneurship. All ten finalists will receive professional services totaling $100,000 in addition to individual pitch coaching and financial mentoring. The group will also gain visibility and exposure to leading early-stage venture capitalists, angel investors and business executives who are judging the event and attending the virtual pre-pitch Springboard Enterprises Dolphin Tank® with Women Founders Network on August 10th in Santa Monica, CA.
The Ten Finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
Tech/Tech-enabled Track:
Clickvoyant - Mia Umanos, CEO - San Diego, CA
Because we believe that insights from customer data mean the difference between "surviving" and creating generational wealth, we founded Clickvoyant - a no-code data modeling platform that turns anyone into a data scientist to find growth opportunities for their businesses.
Emblematic Group - Nonny de la Peña, CEO & Founder - Santa Monica, CA
Emblematic is one of the world's foremost producers of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. REACH is a no code tool for creating and sharing immersive content across the Metaverse.
Litesprite - Swatee Surve, Founder & CEO - Bellevue, WA
Litesprite’s therapeutic gaming platform delivers data insights and improves clinical outcomes. It built the first clinically validated mental health videogame, Sinasprite, which is only one recommended by clinics and municipalities nationwide. It’s garnered +30 global health innovation awards, including the first videogame to win a U.S. Surgeon General Award.
TAINR - Kathy Silva, COO and Founder - Los Angeles, CA
TAINR brings sustainable automation to the grocery industry through a smart refill ecosystem for dry foods. With TAINR, retailers can provide a frictionless user experience, eliminate unnecessary packaging to build brand loyalty, and improve their operational efficiencies, ultimately building a smart and more sustainable future.
Visual Farms - Margaret Maizel, President - Fort Collins, CO
VISUAL FARMS is a company built by agriculture pioneers and innovators in IT and Precision Farming. We are a consortium of executive-level specialists with deep experience in foundational agriculture and business technologies. We're using a unique Real-Time Reinforcement Learning platform that is improving farm profitability and sustainability.
Consumer/CPG Track:
B.T.R. Nation - Ashley Nickelsen, Founder, CEO, & Chief Snack Officer – San Francisco, CA
B.T.R. NATION is on a mission to end mindless snacking for good. The ultimate goal? To reimagine the modern vending machine. We take the junk out of junk food & make on-the-go snacks actually good for your body & mind: boosted with functional superfoods, no added sugar & only the cleanest ingredients.
NearSight - Dr. Elise Brisco, CEO/Founder - Los Angeles, CA
NearSight is revolutionizing solutions for vision problems related to our heavy dependence on digital devices. Our mission is to improve the quality of life by keeping people comfortable and productive. Current solutions haven't evolved to meet the needs of our digital culture. NearSight puts clear vision at your fingertips.
Nollapelli - Allison Howard, Founder and CEO - Pittsburgh, PA
Nollapelli is using textile technology to help you get more out of your time in bed. Founded by a female engineer, Nollapelli’s patent-pending fabric offers a unique combination of cooling and beauty benefits. "The best sheets on the market" according to Forbes, Nollapelli is beloved by consumers, hotels and spas.
Noodelist - Thuong Tan, Founder and CEO - Palo Alto, CA
Noodelist is premium, plant-based instant noodles that you are not ashamed to eat in public! We are finally closing the gap between healthy and tasty. Noodelist is powered by superplant Moroheiya (Egyptian spinach) which has 5x more calcium than regular spinach.
Six Gldn - Karima El-Hakkaoui, Founder and CEO - Los Angeles, CA
Six Gldn restores skin’s radiance, tone and texture with supercharged botanical Korean complexes passed down over 9 generations. We harvest the most potent, floral and herbal botanicals for our transformative and targeted formulas. A recipe for radiance, perfect for all skin types and all ages.
We congratulate these ten amazing female founder companies! “We are so pleased to announce our top ten finalists selected from among over 185 applicants,” said Darya Allen-Attar, Co-Founder and CEO of Women Founders Network. “We are excited to see them pitch in person on October 25th at our 10th annual Fast Pitch event, which would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, such as our presenting sponsors Union Bank and Antares Capital, and our Junior Judges sponsor, 33 Capital.”
We thank all of our applicants for engaging with Women Founders Network in 2022, and welcome them all to the WFN Alumni Network. We pledge our continued support to the WFN network of female founder companies, over 1,100 strong, and will work to provide them with the support they need to build scalable businesses.
About the Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition
We support women entrepreneurs building scalable early-stage businesses. To apply, the company must have a woman co-founder, president or CEO, or be majority-owned by women, among other criteria.
The Fast Pitch Competition will take place on October 25th from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time. This event is open to the public and tickets will be available through our website.
Women Founders Network Competition Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors for their amazing support! The Fast Pitch is presented by Union Bank and Antares Capital this year and we appreciate their generous support as our Presenting Sponsors.
We would also like to thank our Corporate Sponsors: UCLA Anderson, Silicon Valley Bank, Bryant Stibel, Fenwick, KPMG, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, Troutman Pepper, CBIZ MHM, LLC, and Stacey Feinberg of 33 Capital for sponsoring our Junior Judge prize.
In addition, we'd like to thank those who have committed to supporting the Women Founders Network with in-kind services sponsorships: Evolution, Supporting Strategies, Elevate my Brand, Troutman Pepper, Cooley, KPMG, Elaine Bogart, Startup Valuation Resources, Noemi.app, ARC Consulting, and Olmstead Williams Communications.
If you are interested in joining our roster of sponsors, please contact Kim Christensen, Program Director, Women Founders Network, at kim@womenfoundersnetwork.org and Patti Buhler, administration, Women Founders Network, at patti@womenfoundersnetwork.org.
About Women Founders Network (WFN)
Women Founders Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides resources and education on entrepreneurship and investing to women and girls. We hope to inspire the next generation of women founders and investors. Through our annual Fast Pitch competition, WFN and its members have awarded and directly invested over $1.5 million in women-founded companies since 2013, and alumni have gone on to raise over $100 million in funding. Visit us at http://www.WomenFoundersNetwork.org.
University Fellows Program
The WFN Fellows Program engages university women and to give them an opportunity to gain real-world, resume-building experience. Five teams of two fellows will each be assigned to one of the WFN finalist companies to prepare a due diligence report under the supervision of a mentor. Reports will be presented to the WFN Fast Pitch judges and the Junior Judges. Learn more about the program here.
Junior Judge Program
Since 2014, the Junior Judge Program has educated more than 100 girls in middle and high school about entrepreneurship and investing through virtual workshops teaching the fundamentals of business, virtual “Meet the CEO” events with women leaders, learning about investing and due diligence, and their participation in the annual WFN Fast Pitch Event as “venture capitalists for a day” to vote for their favorite company and present a sponsored cash award to their winner. The Junior Judges walk away from the experience feeling confident, inspired, and motivated, knowing there is a strong community of women available to support them in achieving their goals.
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