Crowdfunding platforms have become all the rage in the startup world. This simple way of acquiring funding allows family, friends, and followers to invest their hard-earned money into a projects they actually believe in. Products like the Oculus Rift and 3Doodler all got their starts on these kinds of platforms and their popularity has only grown since then. Now, one company is taking the crowdfunding craze to new height by providing a platform for women founders to thrive.
The company, iFundWomen, has created a crowdfunding platform exclusively for women-led businesses to get the advice, guidance, and most importantly the funding they need to succeed in the startup world. The goal is to close the funding gap in venture capital that women experience when starting a business.
“We’re a one-stop shop for all the female entrepreneurs out there,” said Karen Cahn, the founder of iFundWomen in an interview with SqawkBox. “There are millions of women with brilliant ideas and serious street cred in their careers that just need the confidence and the push to start their businesses.”
Karen Cahn has some street cred of her own when it comes to her career. She is currently the founder and CEO of VProud, a video-based conversation platform built for women, by women, and VCommunity, a video blogging platform that enables brands to host safe, video-based communities, on their own sites. She was also an early employee at Google, the general manager of AOL Original Video, and the founder of the Branded Entertainment business at YouTube.
As far as the iFundWomen platform is concerned, there is a wide range of features that sets it apart from its competition. In addition to exclusively serving women-led businesses, users are privileged to crowdfunding platform advice and video training to guarantee the best response to their projects.
Perhaps more importantly, iFundWomen’s pay-it-forward model further spells out their commitment to helping women succeed as entrepreneurs. As Cahn puts it, the platform will put 20 percent of its profits back into existing projects on the platform.
With the gender gap becoming more and more of a problem in the tech and startup world, iFundWomen is the perfect solution put forth by the perfect founder. Between Cahn’s impressive background and a global commitment innovation through inclusion, iFundWomen could usher in a whole new era of powerful women changing the world.
Photo: Flickr / Roberto Trombetta