Women Founders Network (“WFN”) announced the ten finalists who will compete in its 11th Annual Fast Pitch Competition on October 26, 2023. 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 Venture Capitalists. This 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 and attending the Fast Pitch event.
The Ten Finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
TECH/TECH-ENABLED TRACK
Five Star Fans - Tina Provost, Co-Founder & CEO - Dublin, OH
Five Star Fans is a dynamic platform that allows college sports fans to unite and show how much they want a particular recruit to come to their university! These athletes now get a way to capitalize on their recruiting journey like never before.
Keenly - Christine Wang & Tulsi May, Co-Founders - Los Angeles, CA
Keenly is a technology platform for companies to help streamline and simplify the process of sustainability reporting. As former investors, the founders are focused on helping public companies develop investor-ready disclosures. Keenly’s mission is to alleviate the ESG reporting burden so companies can refocus on results.
Parlay - Alex McLeod, CEO - Alexandria, VA
Parlay is a B2B SaaS platform that creates new loan approval pathways for small business borrowers and generates unique alternative creditworthiness scoring based on applicant progress. We partner with community banks and credit unions to extend Parlay to borrowers, helping to minimize customer abandons, increase conversions and lifetime value, and improve underwriting efficiency.
Remediai - Roya Azimi, Founder & CEO - Alamo, CA
Our AI-powered medical debt dispute resolution services offer end-to-end assistance in validating medical debt disputes, negotiating better terms, and flexible payment plans so people can quickly settle their medical debt.
StaffOnTap - Kayla Wooley, Founder & CEO - Simsbury, CT
StaffOnTap’s marketplace instantly connects understaffed nursing homes and temporary nurses.
CONSUMER/CPG TRACK
Damn Right Cocktails - Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Founder & CEO – Hermosa Beach, CA
Damn Right Cocktails is the world’s first USDA-certified organic, 100% de Agave Tequila ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail. Unlike male inspired brands, Damn Right provides a female friendly product that is tough and bold, made for the modern woman.
Hydro Gummy - Lanie Yeung, Founder & CEO - Thousand Oaks, CA
Hydro Gummy is water you can eat – an easier and more fun way to consume more water through our delicious, fruit-enhanced bites of water. Hydro Gummy is made of 90% water, real fruit, is lower in sugar, and is enhanced with nutrients. Stay hydrated and nourished with Hydro Gummy.
The BAD Tea Co. - Elyse Eilerman, Co-Founder - Los Angeles, CA
Meet The BAD Tea Co. It stands for Bold And Delicious, duh. The BAD Tea Co. is on a mission to modernize the tea industry with products that highlight global flavors and enough caffeine to make Big Coffee cry.
The Revury - Remington Fraser, CEO & Founder - San Clemente, CA
The Revury is the next-generation of full-service online luxury consignment. It is a tech-enabled platform that allows users to consign and shop their favorite brands at up to 90% off retail prices. The Revury leverages technology to automate product intake in driving a profitable (& sustainable!) answer to the question we all ask ourselves: what am I going to do with my closet?!
Vaila Shoes - Ahriana Edwards, Founder & CEO - Atlanta, GA
Vaila Shoes provides women of forgotten shoe sizes (size 9-14) with access to modern dress shoes for the workplace and afterhours. Vaila is on a mission to achieve size inclusivity in the footwear space and help women look good while doing it.
We thank all of our applicants for engaging with Women Founders Network in 2023. We pledge our continued support to the WFN network of female founder companies, and will work to provide them with the support they need to build scalable businesses.
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 Next Generation Investors programs for high school girls and college women. 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 $250 million in funding.
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