How is SheEO supporting women-owned businesses through alternative venture funding?

"Many women dream of starting their own business. But this involves a large investment of time, dedication, creativity—and money. Even the best ideas fall flat without strong financial backing and fiscal management. Most start-ups don’t have a chief financial officer, let alone an unlimited amount of cash to fund their owners’ dreams. According to a recent report, there are more than 11 million woman-owned businesses in the United States that employ close to 9 million people and generate more than $1.6 trillion in revenues. And revenues have increased for these businesses more than 35% over the last decade compared to 27% among all U.S. companies. Despite these impressive statistics, less than 4 percent of venture capital funding goes to this group of entrepreneurs. That’s where Vicki Saunders and SheEO, her venture capital start-up, come into the picture. Saunders, who describes herself as a serial entrepreneur, previously cofounded and ran four different business ventures. She believes that the funding universe for women entrepreneurs needs to be fixed and offers her plan via SheEO, a platform to enlist women “activators” to invest money to create a pool of capital distributed to select woman-owned businesses in the form of 0% interest loans that are paid back within five years. The activators are more than just investors, however. Saunders envisions these women as being a crucial part of the businesses in which they invest, by providing operational support, resources for suppliers and other vendors, and a solid networking opportunity for everything from legal support to cultivating new customers. In a recent campaign called Radical Generosity, $1,000 was raised from each of 500 women, and that pool of $500,000 was split among five woman-led businesses. In year three of the funding venture in 2017, SheEO funded 15 companies and invested $1.5 million. SheEO has funded entrepreneurs working on a variety of businesses, including artificial intelligence, hardware for people with disabilities, food, and education. While SheEO currently operates in four regions, Canada, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Colorado, Saunders’s goals for funding woman-led businesses are lofty. By 2020, Saunders hopes to have a million investors and a billion dollars to fund 10,000 entrepreneurs. But her ultimate goal is to change the culture around how investors support businesses—all businesses. According to Saunders, activating women on behalf of other women will change the world."