The 20 Hottest Startups Founded By Women

Women may be underrepresented throughout the tech sector, but they're building some incredible startups.

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The folks over at Product Hunt have created and curated a list of the best startups and products founded by women. VCs, entrepreneurs, and Product Hunt members have all weighed in on their favorites. 

From uBeam's innovative wireless charging technology to Hopscotch's program for teaching kids how to code, the products women are making are changing the world.

meredith perry
Courtesy of Meredith Perry
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Front

front ceo mathilde collin
Front CEO Mathilde Collin.
Twitter/Mathilde Collin

Front lets you collaborate on email responses with your team without cluttering up your inbox with a confusing set of back-and-forth responses. Front also lets you work under a group email address to collaborate on composing emails.

In August, the Y Combinator alum told VentureBeat it had already raised $1.5 million of its $2.5 million funding round from a group of anonymous Silicon Valley investors. Front is led by CEO Mathilde Collin.

 

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Mattermark

danielle morrill mattermark
Danielle Morrill, Mattermark CEO and cofounder.
Danielle Morrill/Twitter

Danielle Morrill, Kevin Morrill, and Andy Sparks are the dream team behind Mattermark. Mattermark is a data platform that helps VC firms keep tabs on up-and-coming startups. Mattermark's software lets users look at information about startups based on news stories, Twitter, SEC filings, AngelList, CrunchBase, and more.

The company has raised $3.4 million in three rounds from investors including Great Oaks Venture Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Mattermark is led by CEO Danielle Morrill.

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Hopscotch

Hopscotch-Founders
Hopscotch founders Jocelyn Leavitt and Samantha John.
LinkedIn / Samantha John

Hopscotch teaches kids how to code in a way that's fun and not intimidating. It's the first programming language that's designed for mobile, too.

Jocelyn Leavitt and Samantha John founded the company in 2011 and have received $1.2 million in two rounds of funding from MESA+, Kapor Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Resolute.vc.

 

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TheSkimm

theskimm, Danielle Weisberg, Carly Zakin, sa100
TheSkimm cofounders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg.
Instagram/@theskimm

Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg quit their jobs at NBC to launch theSkimm, a daily newsletter that gets sent to your inbox every morning with the day's top stories.

The two raised $1.6 million in seed funding earlier this year from AFSquare, Five Island Ventures, Richard Greenfield, Gordon Crawford, Troy Carter, RRE Ventures, Homebrew, and Bob Pittman.

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weeSpring

weespring founders
weeSpring founders Allyson Downey, Melissa Post (upper right), and Jack Downey (bottom right).
LinkedIn

weeSpring is an ecommerce platform that has expecting parents and parents of newborn babies in mind. Users can ask for advice, share stories, and compare products. You can even start a registry.

weeSpring has raised $700k in two rounds from Empire Angels and Techstars. It was cofounded by Melissa Post and Allyson and Jack Downey.

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Brit + Co.

brit morin
Brit + Co. founder and CEO Brit Morin.
Brit

Brit Morin is Silicon Valley's answer to Martha Stewart. The former Googler's ecommerce and DIY project startup, Brit + Co, lets users curate crafty ideas and buy monthly DIY craft kits.

Brit + Co. has raised $7.6 million from investors like Cowboy Ventures, Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, Index Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

 

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uBeam

Meredith Perry uBeam
uBeam founder and CEO Meredith Perry.
YouTube

After getting stuck in a college lecture with a dead laptop and no charger, Meredith Perry decided she needed to find a solution to fix the most annoying part of mobile devices: their chargers. Her solution: uBeam, which uses ultrasound waves to wirelessly charge devices.

She's raised $13.2 million — and most recently a $10 million round in October — from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Mark Cuban, Troy Carter, Tony Hsieh, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

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LearnVest

Alexa Von Tobel, LearnVest
Alexa von Tobel, LearnVest's CEO and founder.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images

Alexa von Tobel's LearnVest is chock-full of articles, advice, and other resources to help you become a better financial planner.

LearnVest has raised $69 million in five rounds from Northwestern Mutual, Accel Partners, American Express Ventures, and more.

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Wanelo

Deena Varshavskaya Wanelo
Deena Varshavskaya, CEO of Wanelo.
Wanelo

Wanelo — which stands for "want, need, love" — is Deena Varshavskaya's startup that lets you shop for clothes from 350,000 stores, right from your phone.

Wanelo raised $14 million in two rounds from investors like Stan Chudnovsky, James Currier, Red Swan Ventures, Ooga Labs, Naval Ravikant, First Round, Floodgate, Forerunner Ventures, Aayush Phumbhra, and Roger Dickey.

inDinero

jessica mah indinero
Jessica Mah, inDinero's product architect and CEO.
Twitter/Jessica Mah

Jessica Mah is the CEO and product architect of inDinero, a startup that handles accounting and payroll management for small businesses. (She's also one of the best people to follow on Twitter, according to Marc Andreessen). inDinero has raised $1.2 million in three rounds of funding.

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Ubiome

jessica richman
Jessica Richman

Jessica Richman is the cofounder and CEO of Y Combinator alum uBiome, a biotech startup researching the microorganisms that live inside the human body. uBiome was initially financed by crowdfunding: its 2013 IndieGogo campaign raised $351,193 of its $100,000 goal.

uBiome has raised $5 million from Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Startups, and Y Combinator.

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True&Co

True&Co Michelle Lam
True&Co.

True&Co founder Michelle Lam has cracked the code to finding the perfect bra — and after filling out a questionnaire on True&Co's website, you can buy one, too. Michelle and her team created an algorithm that helps women find the best bras for their size and shape, and also enables them to design better fitting bras by using data from more than one million women.

True&Co has raised $6 million since its founding in 2012.

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Switchboard

mara zepeda switchboard
Mara Zepeda/Twitter

Mara Zepeda is the cofounder and CEO of Switchboard, a Portland, Oregon-based startup that cities, universities, and other communities use as a classifieds service. Switchboard has raised $45,000 from the Portland Incubator Experiment.

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Sols

Kegan Schouwenburg, Sols
Kegan Schouwenburg, cofounder and CEO of Sols.
Twitter

Kegan Schouwenburg got the idea for her startup Sols back when she worked at 3D printery Shapeways, while walking around the factory floor in her black leather platform boots. Sols is a startup that 3D prints orthopedic shoe insoles.

The startup has raised $8.2 million from investors including Grape Arbor VC, FundersGuild, Felicis Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, RRE Ventures, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund. 

 

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Dwell

dwell media
Dwell Media's Lara Deam and Michela O'Connor Abrams.
Twitter

Dwell Media has been around for a decade, and it's still the arbiter of the modern home and design — it is both a resource and store for those means. Its owner and founder is Lara Deam, and its president is Michela O'Connor Abrams.

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Share Some Style

diane lovilgio gil tolle share some style
Diane Loviglio and Gil Tolle, Share Some Style's founders.
Share Some Style

Diane Loviglio got the idea for Share Some Style when she and Gil Tolle found themselves staring at their closets day after day, asking themselves what they should wear. Tired of their wardrobes, they enlisted the help of two stylists, who happened to be friends of a friend. Share Some Style brings your own personal stylist to you in person (if you live in one of the nine cities the startup serves), or remotely connects you.

In June 2014, Share Some Style raised a $100,000 seed round from 500 Startups.

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Popforms

Kate Matsudaira popforms
Kate Matsudaira, Popforms' founder.
Kate Matsudaira/Twitter

Popforms is an email newsletter packed with career advice, a blog, and a set of courses that are all intended to make you the best technical leader you can be. Kate Matsudaira is Popforms' founder.

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The RealReal

Julie Wainwright the realreal
The RealReal

The RealReal is a luxury online resale marketplace founded by Julie Wainwright. In addition to selling Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, and Hermès clothing at up to 90% off of the retail price, The RealReal also offers paintings, drawings, and other fine art.

The RealReal has raised $43 million from investors including Expansion Venture Capital, DBL Investors, Panarea Capital, Novel TMT Ventures, Greycroft Partners, and e.ventures.

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Kurbo Health

kurbo health founders
Kurbo Health cofounders Thea Runyan and Joanna Strober.
Kurbo Health's cofounders Thea Runyan and Joanna Strober.

Kurbo Health, cofounded by Joanna Strober and Thea Runyan, is a mobile app that helps kids and teens lose weight safely. It categorizes food using a stoplight system, in which "red" foods are bad, "yellow" foods are okay, and "green" foods are good. Kurbo Health's mobile platform lets users track the food they eat, as well as the physical activity they do each day, and a trained human coach has a weekly meeting with each user to set goals. 

Kurbo Health raised $5.8 million in July from Greg Badros, Susan Wojcicki, Promus Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Data Collective, and Signia Venture Partners. 

Clara Labs

clara labs maran nelson
Maran Nelson/Twitter

Clara Labs is an automated system that acts like a virtual assistant by scheduling your meetings and helping you manage your inbox. While the company hasn't raised any money yet, cofounder Maran Nelson has confirmed a funding round is in the works.

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