200 Female-Founded Startups Selected to
Participate in the PE Intensive in NYC
12 Startups to Take Part in Pitch
Competition
Rent the Runway Foundation and UBS today announced the 200
female-founded startups that have been selected to participate in
the second annual Project Entrepreneur Intensive in New York City
on April 7-8, 2017. Among this group are 12 companies that will
pitch their businesses to a panel of investor judges for the chance
to receive a $10,000 grant and participate in a five-week
accelerator program hosted at Rent the Runway.
The PE Intensive will provide participating founders with the
opportunity to work with entrepreneurs, investors and experts as
they transform their early stage ventures into high-growth
companies. Among the highlights of this year’s program will be a
keynote conversation between Spanx CEO and Founder Sara Blakely and
CNN’s Poppy Harlow, as well as sessions led by Carley Roney,
Co-Founder of The Knot/XO Group; Marla Beck, CEO and Co-Founder of
Bluemercury Inc.; and Hayley Barna, Venture Partner at First Round
Capital and Co-Founder of Birchbox, among many others.
“We’re excited to have some of the most influential
entrepreneurs in the country gathering together for our second year
of the PE Intensive to give participants the resources they need to
elevate and grow their businesses,” said Jennifer Fleiss,
Co-Founder of Rent the Runway. “The connections they will make and
insights gained from these two days will be invaluable as they
begin to scale their companies.”
“Today women account for less than 10 percent of founders at
high-growth firms. In 2017 this is completely unacceptable and
we’re committed to breaking down the barriers standing in the way
of women building economically impactful and disruptive companies,”
said Jennifer Hyman, CEO and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway.
Finalists for the Project Entrepreneur pitch competition were
chosen from nearly 650 applicants across 75 cities. The selected
companies and founders who will present at the live pitch
competition on Saturday, April 8 include:
- CottageClass - Manisha Soyer,
Founder (Brooklyn, NY): DIY Marketplace for micro-schools
- Curative Orthopaedics - Samantha
Simmons, Founder & CEO (New York, NY): Comfortable orthopaedic
garments clinically proven to help chronic pain sufferers
sleep
- Lace & Liberty - Danielle
Wen, CEO & Co-Founder (San Francisco, CA): Merging
direct-to-consumer convenience with luxury bespoke bridalwear
- LOLI BEAUTY - Tina Hedges,
Founder & CEO (New York, NY): Pure, Potent, Personalized…LOLI
is the first BIY (Blend It Yourself) clean + green beauty
brand
- Parihug - Xyla Foxlin, Founder
(Cleveland, OH): Internet-connected plush toys that let you hug
loved ones from anywhere in the world
- Parking Vision Information
Technologies (ParkIt) - Jennifer Ding, CEO & Co-Founder
(Dallas, TX): Smart camera technology using machine learning to
collect real-time parking data to improve urban mobility
- Reboundwear - Bimla Picot,
Founder (New York, NY): Athleisure wear with a purpose
- Repeat Roses - Jennifer Grove,
Founder & CEO (New York, NY): Sustainable floral waste removal
business that gives back to people and planet
- The Mentor Method - Janice
Omadeke, Founder (Washington D.C.): Career development platform
empowering minorities in tech to learn to lead with confidence by
connecting future leaders to career mentors from companies that
want to increase their diverse hiring pipeline
- The Touchpoint Solution
–“Buzzies"- Vicki Mayo, CEO & Co-Founder (Scottsdale AZ):
Neuroscience wearable that alleviates stress by altering the body’s
stress response in as little as 30 seconds
Two additional companies will be chosen to pitch during the PE
Intensive.
"These female founders are among the most promising and
innovative entrepreneurs in the country, representing a wide
breadth of industries," said Lori Feinsilver, UBS Head of Community
Affairs & Corporate Responsibility, Americas. "While they come
to Project Entrepreneur with incredibly diverse professional and
personal backgrounds, they all share a dream to drive their own
success. They can take great inspiration from the experiences of
last year’s winners — Full Harvest, Cake, Komae, and Claire — who
have gone on to raise their first rounds of seed funding and have
graduated to other selective accelerators. We're proud to support
this year's founders on their journeys."
Project Entrepreneur is a collaboration of Rent the Runway
Foundation and UBS Elevating Entrepreneurs, the firm's flagship
philanthropic initiative committed to driving toward a more
inclusive landscape for entrepreneurs everywhere. Mashable is the
Official Media Partner for Project Entrepreneur. Cooley is the pro
bono legal partner of Project Entrepreneur. Creative Artists Agency
(CAA), and its philanthropic arm The CAA Foundation, also worked
closely with Rent the Runway and UBS to help bring Project
Entrepreneur to life.
Project Entrepreneur is informed by its Community Advisors:
Black Founders; HBCU Innovation, Commercialization and
Entrepreneurship Initiative; Latino Startup Alliance; and Venture
for America. Advisory Council members can be found at:
http://projectentrepreneur.org/about.
For the full agenda and roster of speakers participating in the
PE Intensive, click here. The full Project Entrepreneur Class of
2017 can be viewed here.
Follow Project Entrepreneur on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,
and with the hashtag #PEIntensive17.
About Project Entrepreneur:
Launched by Rent the Runway Foundation in partnership with UBS,
Project Entrepreneur ignites bold ideas by providing women with
access to the tools, training and networks needed to build
scalable, economically impactful companies. The multi-faceted
national initiative includes a venture competition, 5-week
accelerator program, robust digital hub, and multi-city events. For
more information, visit http://projectentrepreneur.org/.
About Rent the Runway:
Rent the Runway is revolutionizing fashion by allowing millions
of women to rent designer apparel and accessories, both on-demand
and through its subscription service Unlimited. The company focuses
on convenience and a top-notch customer experience on all of its
platforms, including mobile, online, and retail locations in
Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los
Angeles and Las Vegas. With styles from hundreds of top designers,
RTR serves as a powerful marketing channel for the fashion
industry, introducing a new generation of women to brands that they
had limited access to before. Co-Founded in 2009 by Harvard
Business School graduates, Rent the Runway has raised over $190
million in venture capital and has 6 million members across the
U.S.
About UBS:
UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy,
institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private
clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is
comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions:
Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal &
Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's
strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and
focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to
capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and
regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and
sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are
capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in
their targeted markets.
UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has
offices in 54 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in
the Americas, 35% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the
Middle East and Africa and 13% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG
employs approximately 60,000 people around the world. Its shares
are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE).
Note to editors
UBS Wealth Management Americas recently announced that it
contributed to raising the industry's largest impact investing fund
with a gender lens overlay. Rethink Impact is a venture capital
fund that invests in female-led, tech enabled companies creating
transformational social and environmental change.
www.ubs.com/together / www.rethinkimpact.com
Follow us on Twitter: @UBS
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170315005905/en/
MediaRent the RunwayMeaghan Gibbons, +1-212-524-6860 ext
114+1-401-248-8997 (mobile)mgibbons@renttherunway.comorUBS Wealth
Management AmericasMaya Dillon, +1-212-713-3130+1-917-615-7094
(mobile)maya.dillon@ubs.com
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