female-founded
(22)
The Office That Lasted a Month - and the Agency Built Everywhere
A sudden rent hike killed Main+Rose's first office. The workaround became its operating system - and carried a small, female-founded agency from a Los Angeles intersection to campaigns for the United Nations, WeTransfer, and the USA Pavilion.
The Agency Looking for Women Who Are Interesting Off Camera
Jules Newmark built a small Los Angeles agency around an unfashionable idea: a model is a person with interests, leverage and a career - not a face sent to a call sheet.
Blended Strategy Group knows who belongs in the room
A talent manager and a brand marketer built an agency around the conversation between them. From celebrity partnerships to its own deodorant brand, Blended Strategy Group makes a business of getting the right people involved early.
The Branding Boutique LA knows a pretty feed is only the beginning
A skincare feed can look lovely and still leave shoppers guessing. This Los Angeles agency sells the work that connects the picture to the proposition.
JSA+Partners sells the story beyond the product
A card game becomes an entertainment story. An esports tournament becomes a business story. Inside the communications agency that helps brands give outsiders a reason to care.
The Edit built an agency by taking friendship slowly - and social seriously
Katie Durko and Lauren Fortner turned a shared intern into a social agency for brands including Disney, BÉIS and Florence by Mills. Their next ambition is less about chasing the next viral post and more about making good work repeatable.
Lately knows what happens before you hit publish
A brand wants attention. A creator wants a fair deal. Lately Collective has built a business around understanding both sides of the same conversation.
CRUSH makes serious businesses hard to ignore
Brewing tanks, cybersecurity and council services are hardly easy briefs. From a Derbyshire studio, CRUSH turns technical expertise into brands people can understand - and gives clients the tools to keep them working.
Oster and Associates Knows What a Banana Is Worth
The San Diego agency has spent decades giving plants, produce, and good causes a reason to be remembered. Its produce work starts with a deceptively small question: why pick this one?
Board Intelligence wants your board to read less and decide more
A meeting buried in backward-looking paperwork gave Board Intelligence its opening. Now the company is combining boardroom advice, AI and acquisitions to change what happens before directors take their seats.
Bellesa’s First Model Failed in Public - Its Second Built a Pleasure Brand Where Ads Couldn’t Go
A consent crisis forced the Montreal startup to tear out its original engine. What followed was a sharper business built on owned products, creator distribution and the radical idea that the checkout page is part of sexual wellness.
The Fund That Bets on Lab Coats, Not Hoodies
A female-founded merchant bank in Singapore is quietly wiring together capital, regulators and non-dilutive grants to push quantum, climate and brain-health science out of the lab - and it is measuring the results in billions mobilized, not just term sheets signed.
Ansa
Ansa is a San Francisco fintech that builds API-first, white-labeled stored-value wallet infrastructure for merchants. It lets brands launch their own branded digital wallet - the Starbucks-app model - where customers pre-load funds and pay in-app, online, or in-store. By batching many small purchases into one funded balance, Ansa cuts card processing fees on low-ticket transactions while adding incentives, loyalty, and analytics on top. Founded in 2022 by Adyen and Affirm alumni Sophia Goldberg and JT Cho, Ansa raised a $14M Series A in April 2024 (about 95% of it from female investors), bringing total funding to roughly $19.4M.
SixSense
SixSense is a Singapore-based deep tech company building an AI platform that helps semiconductor manufacturers spot, classify and predict chip defects in real time. Founded in 2018 by Akanksha Jagwani and Avni Agarwal, its no-code software lets process engineers train and deploy computer-vision models on their own fab data in under two days - automating visual inspection, lot disposition and root-cause analysis. Used by chipmakers including GlobalFoundries and JCET, the platform has analyzed more than 100 million chips and raised roughly $12M to date, including an $8.5M Series A in 2025.
AngeLink
AngeLink is a women-led social crowdfunding platform based in Naples, Florida, that bills itself as the first fintech fundraising site powered by women. It pairs a zero-platform-fee model with an AI tool called AI-Wizard that helps people write more compelling fundraiser stories, plus fraud review and mobile-first design. Positioned as a GoFundMe alternative, it targets the reality that most crowdfunding donors and organizers are women, and aims to raise money for medical bills, emergencies, small businesses, and community causes.
Birdy Grey
Birdy Grey is a direct-to-consumer bridal brand that reinvented bridesmaid-dress shopping by moving it entirely online with a simple promise: stylish, coordinated wedding-party attire at a fixed, affordable price. Launched in 2017 from a West Hollywood living room by Grace Lee Chen and later joined by Monica Ashauer, the brand sells bridesmaid dresses starting at $89, ships free color swatches so brides can match their palette, and has since expanded into groomsmen suits, accessories, and everyday event wear. It crossed $100 million in revenue in 2024 and has served over one million customers.
Playground
Playground is a female-founded sexual wellness brand making clean, vegan, water-based personal lubricants and intimacy products intentionally formulated for women. Its FDA-cleared, clinically tested formulas blend adaptogens like ashwagandha with skincare-grade ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, vitamin E and bamboo extract to support vaginal health while boosting libido. Co-founded with pop icon Christina Aguilera as Chief Brand Advisor, Playground raised $2M in seed funding and sells direct-to-consumer plus retail partners including Target.
The Pause Technologies Inc.
The Pause Technologies Inc. is a Phoenix-based, female-founded healthtech company building Harmoni, an AI companion for women navigating perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. Its app pairs a 24/7 AI wellness coach with symptom tracking, wearable data (Apple Health, Fitbit, Oura, Garmin), gamified journeys, and clinician-reviewed content to turn the confusing hormonal transition into something women can understand and act on. Founded by AI entrepreneur and MIT Sloan graduate Susan Sly with clinician Dr. Mia Chorney, the company is targeting the roughly 50 million U.S. women experiencing menopause symptoms.
TRLab
TRLab is an art-and-technology company that fuses Web3 tools with fine-art expertise to reinvent how people learn about, experience, and collect art. Co-founded in 2021 by Christie's non-executive Deputy Chairman Xin Li-Cohen and CEO Audrey Ou, the platform builds education-driven, interactive collecting journeys with major artists, estates and institutions - including the Calder Foundation, the Chris Burden Estate, Cai Guo-Qiang, Vogue and digital-art organization Rhizome. It has raised roughly $9.2M total, and more recently has begun extending its creative IP into lifestyle goods and immersive experiences.
Heartwork
Heartwork is a New York-based commercial furniture company that designs and manufactures steel storage solutions for the modern workplace. Founded in 2012 by Karen John, the company builds modular cabinets, credenzas, desks, and cloud-connected smart lockers from heavy-duty American steel, all GREENGUARD Gold certified and made to order in the USA. Heartwork turns the overlooked, drab world of office storage into design-forward, customizable furniture that helps companies express their culture while minimizing environmental impact.
Margaux
Margaux is a New York-based, female-founded footwear brand making handcrafted women's shoes in a family-owned Spanish factory. Co-founded in 2015 by Harvard friends Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson, the brand is built around a simple idea most of the industry ignored: women should not have to choose between a shoe that fits and a shoe they love. Margaux offers one of the widest size ranges in the business (roughly US 3-14) across narrow, medium and wide widths, plus a fit concierge - turning sizing into a service rather than a compromise. Its bestseller, The Demi ballet flat, has racked up thousands of glowing reviews and a Vogue following.
Ergeon
Ergeon is a technology-enabled outdoor home improvement company that uses video calls, satellite imagery, and proprietary software to deliver fences, decks, artificial turf, and concrete installations with transparent pricing and an all-remote workforce.