Only 1.1% of VC funding goes to female founders. That’s pretty shocking.
This week, we’re celebrating those who overcame the odds at ‘F💰ck You, Fund me’, where we’ll be learning from five amazing female founders at Mama Shelter London in Shoreditch.
Moderated by Elizabeth Uviebinené (author of Slay in Your Lane and The Reset), we’ll also be joined by three VCs who will be judging our live pitching, as well as users of all of these amazing products.
Margot and Alexia, our co-founders, will be getting real for a no-BS discussion about the challenges facing female founders in 2022, and how they made their raises happen. Read on to meet our amazing panellists – five women revolutionising healthcare, haircare, circular fashion, and fintech.
Why do we need products designed by women?
When we polled our own community, over 80% said that more could be done to gear product design towards them. When the default user is a man, women and non-binary people get left out of user research and design conversations – and their needs aren’t taken into account.
Jude is the healthcare company taking the stigma out of bladder care.
14 million people in the UK experience bladder issues, and yet the topic is surrounded by stigma. Jude is making bladder care and incontinence something that people talk about, and founderPeony Li has raised $2.6m to make it happen.
Jude offers multifaceted bladder care, offering everything you need: from bladder care supplements to panty liners and pads, it’s all developed in collaboration with doctors and urologists.
Peony Li started out in investment banking, but soon switched to working at Founder’s Factory, where she invested in over 60 start-ups. She soon discovered a love for the healthcare sector, working as Head of Operations at Daye and then founding Jude, where she’s smashing one of the UK’s biggest taboos.
Sojo is making the fashion industry more circular.
Ever bought a pair of second-hand jeans that don’t quite fit, or banished that top with a tear in it to the depths of your wardrobe? Sojo is making alterations and tailoring as easy as ordering that Friday-night Deliveroo.
FounderJosephine Philips created Sojo after learning about the exploitation of garment workers in fast-fashion factories –– around 80% of garment workers are women, and women of colour are at the centre of it. Turning to second-hand clothing, she felt frustrated as she discovered clothes that she loved but just didn’t fit.
That’s where Sojo comes in. Sojo connects you with seamsters, making repairs and tailoring easier than ever and helping you increase the longevity of your garments. Josephine has raised £415k so far, and last year announced their first brand partnership with Danish powerhouse GANNI.
Ruka is the platform celebrating Black women and making real texture products.
As of 2021, Black women spend six times as much as their White counterparts on hair care products, but this isn’t reflected in the quality of the market offering.
Tendai Moyo founded RUKA after feeling frustrated at the poor categorisation and offering of hair extensions. RUKA offers a range of products at an affordable price point, prioritising both convenience and joy.
RUKA's extensions mimic real curl patterns, and they provide tutorials and guides to help customers find the perfect extensions for them. The hair is ethically sourced from partners in India and Bangladesh. Tendai has raised $2.24m to date, and RUKA opened its first in-person pop-up location in Westfield Stratford this March – the first Black extensions hair brand to do so.
Your Juno is closing the gender financial literacy gap.
It's us! Our co-founders, sisters Margot and Alexia de Broglie, founded Your Juno to tackle the gender financial literacy and confidence gap. While working in financial services, Alexia was shocked by the number of questions she'd receive from female friends asking her about the very fundamentals of finance. That's when she realised the extent of the gender financial literacy gap.
After test-driving with a mini-finance course, Margot and Alexia launched YourJuno, an app and community aimed at helping women and non-binary people reclaim control over their financial futures – and this year, Margot and Alexia raised $2.2m to make personal finance more inclusive.
Financial disclaimer:
Juno is an education-only platform. If you are unclear about anything concerning our services please do not hesitate to contact us at margot@herjuno.com. Please note that we do not provide any financial planning, accounting, investment advisory or tax advisory or planning advice. If you need financial advice please contact an independent financial advisor. Juno’s content has been prepared exclusively for the informational and educational purposes of our users. Nothing on the Juno platform constitutes an offer to buy or sell or an inducement to buy or sell any security, product, service or investment. The content available on Juno does not constitute investment advice nor does Juno provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information provided for any particular individual purpose. As Juno is an education-only platform, it is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority nor is its content protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.