2021 Women Led Tech Startup Accelerator
Tampa Bay Wave (Wave) is proud to announce the 15 incredible women-led tech selected for the 2021 TechWomen Rising Accelerator, powered by JPMorgan Chase. The TechWomen Rising Accelerator is a 90-day business accelerator program exclusively for women-led startups in Florida, powered by JPMorgan Chase.
“As this new cohort of women-led businesses shows, there is no shortage of female entrepreneurs in the Tampa Bay area with fantastic and viable business ideas. They just need the access to resources and capital to succeed” said Nikky Flores, Commercial Banking Market Director for West Florida at Chase. “JPMorgan Chase is thrilled to work with the Tampa Bay Wave and the Embarc Collective to help make that happen for these first 15 businesses and look forward to seeing them succeed and transform their industries.”
Companies in the TechWomen Rising accelerator program will receive a dedicated experienced mentor, one-on-one feedback with notable tech founders, pitch coaching, investment readiness programs and strategic introductions to investors and prospective customers. TechWomen Rising companies will also participate in Wave’s Pitch Night, a public event to be held at Embarc Collective, as well as an investor-focused Demo Day at the conclusion of the program.
“Tampa Bay Wave’s strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, including gender diversity, is one of the cornerstones of our strategy for fostering a larger, stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in Tampa Bay and throughout Florida.” said Linda Olson, CEO, Tampa Bay Wave. “Thanks to the support from JPMorgan Chase and our partners at Embarc Collective, programs like TechWomen Rising Accelerator allow us to make a lasting impact by breaking down barriers and creating a more level playing field for women and all entrepreneurs.”
Programs such as the TechWomen Rising Accelerator are critical for maximizing both economic and social progress. There is clear evidence that greater gender equality leads to significantly increased business performance and better innovations. Yet at the same time, according to Crunchbase and the Harvard Business Review, just 2.3% of venture capital funding in the U.S. went to women-led startups in 2020, representing a decline from 2.9% of venture capital funding in the U.S. went to women-led startups in 2019.
Beyond the 90-day program, these women-led companies will benefit from ongoing support through Wave’s mentor-driven CORE membership as well as from Embarc Collective. In addition, Embarc Collective will develop informational reports and programming leading up to a national summit for developing solutions for supporting women in entrepreneurship, called the Glaring Gap summit. Both the TechWomen Rising Demo Day and the Glaring Gap summit will be held in the fall during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The 2021 JP Morgan Chase TechWomen Rising Cohort is filled with strong female founders solving real problems. From teachers, physicians, attorneys, and PhDs to military veterans and students, the executives of the companies bring a wide variety of experiences and skill sets to the second TechWomen Rising Cohort. Alumni from University of Texas, Georgia Tech, University of Florida, Harvard, Embry-Riddle, multiple alumni from Yale, as well as former IBM, Barclays, and UCLA leaders and more all round out a diverse group of founders, all women and all from the state of Florida.
The fifteen companies participating in the 2021 TechWomen Rising Accelerator cohort include:
The Advasys Health & Safety System was developed to revolutionize the failed, unsafe system of care for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities that currently allows for unparalleled healthcare disparities and unchecked sexual abuse despite huge public expenditures. The goal of this technology is to empower these vulnerable individuals with a voice in their health and safety- to increase reporting, assist investigations, prevent further abuse, and vastly improve their ability to receive timely and effective care.
Co-CEO: Hedi Katz & Dr. Susan Abend
Location: Sarasota, FL
A two-sided jobs marketplace for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry, Archslate connects a talent pool of 40 million people to work on the right projects for them through a one-click apply process using its cloud and AI based hybrid system.
CEO: Vaishnavi More
Location: Hillsborough, FL
Full service web platform connecting horse owners with horse service & product suppliers, uniting the horse industry nationwide.
CEO: Tori Sullivan
Location: Hillsborough, FL
C-Watch is the first platform offered to consumers to comprehensively vet contractors, service providers and associates before hiring with access to 24/7 real-time data to continuously monitor license, insurance and other pertinent information.
CEO: Abbey Slaven
Location: Marion, FL
Champion Lender is a FinTech/PropTech company focused on creating more homeowners in overlooked communities by reducing the rate of denial in underwriting for potential borrowers. We do this by the HOME program/app, a customized plan aimed at removing barriers to home ownership.
CEO: Viola Carmona
Location: Orlando, FL
fayVen is a dual-sided marketplace designed to maximize unused space at venues by booking mobile vendors and artisans, collaboratively growing their customer base and tapping into additional revenue streams. And at fayVen we believe that all small business owners, no matter what stage of growth they’re in, should have access to quality retail space.
CEO: April Caldwell
Location: Hillsborough, FL
Gamerabble connects gamers of all ages and skill levels with highly skilled coaches and personalized, 1:1 training and enables coaches to offer their services to a broad audience, making coaching more accessible for all. Gamerabble uses a two sided platform for the consumers as well as for freelancers to buy and sell esports and video game coaching services worldwide.
CEO: Cecile Matthews
Location: Pasco, FL
Improving Aviation develops solutions to enable the next generation of air transportation systems for government agencies and private organizations needing safe, efficient, and scalable solutions in air traffic management, transportation systems, and integration of emerging technologies in the aviation industry.
CEO: Rocio Frej Vitalle
Location: Hillsborough, FL
LexDock offers business clients an innovative solution to the seemingly impossible task of managing internal legal affairs. Our legal concierge platform features a cloud-based subscription software solution where businesses and organizations can conduct all of their legal affairs in one secure location, freeing up business leaders to get back to what they do best – run their business.
CEO: Abeer Abu Judeh
Location: Hillsborough, FL
RareGuru is a mobile app that connects patients, caregivers, parents and teens living with a rare disease to foster support, hope, and healing together. RareGuru uses a database that encompasses real time data on more than 7,000 diseases from the leading rare disease informational and governmental websites in the United States and Europe. Users match based on diagnosis, location, symptoms and age.
CEO: Claire Barrow
Location: Hillsborough, FL
ReifyReseilience addresses the painful and expensive problem of burnout in the helping professions with our CBT based digital health intervention specific to both the profession and the problem. Our model reduces turnover, increases company revenue, and helps organizations attract the right next hire at the right time for growth.
CEO: Andrena McGroarty
Location: Pinellas, FL
SEED automates the attendance taking and hall pass request processes in schools, increasing efficiency and providing schools with actionable data to make impactful decisions in real time. Schools are able to operate with increased efficiency, allowing teachers to focus more on teaching, and administrators to be proactive with student safety and behavioral trends.
CEO: Emilia Herman
Location: Hillsborough, FL
Shamrck is an AI-powered career exploration platform to help schools create better career and technical education programs.
CEO: Sheffie Robinson
Location: Pinellas, FL
Every file is a slide, ready to present. Shufflrr makes presentations easier for everyone in your company. Shufflrr is a presentation management solution that keeps your messaging, branding, images, data, and more synchronized throughout your business’s presentation library.
CEO: AlexAnndra Ontra
Location: Hillsborough, FL
One platform with all the recommerce features your resale business needs to start, run and scale. Trendful’s software and API power the customer-to-business resale transaction by providing offer, customer, inventory, shipping, and payout management tools.
CEO: Jackie de la Parte
Location: Hillsborough, FL
More information about the TechWomen Rising Accelerator can be found by visiting: https://www.tampabaywave.org/techwomen-rising/
