Springboard Enterprises celebrates 20 years of building a global ecosystem of women- led companies shaping and transforming industries: COVID Research, Tech, Health, Retail
WASHINGTON, DC: Oct. 28, 2020 – In a year where businesses have suffered greatly from the economic realities of the COVID pandemic, Springboard Enterprises’ alumnae are defying gravity, accelerating and transforming industries. The nonprofit, which focuses on identifying and supporting women entrepreneurs, announced today their alumnae have raised more than $1.5 Billion in 2020 alone and created a total of $26.9 Billion in value. The organization is celebrating 20 years connecting women innovators with the human, social, and financial capital to support the next phase of their company’s growth.
“For two decades, Springboard’s mission has been to accelerate the growth of women-led entrepreneurial companies through access to essential resources within our global community of experts. Springboard has a virtually unmatched record of recruiting and qualifying some of the most talented women-led technology and life science companies,” said Kay Koplovitz, Chairman and co-founder of Springboard Enterprises. “Our secret sauce is our methodology and the ecosystem we’ve built, featuring peer to peer engagement and access to our 5,000-member global expert network.” added Koplovitz.
To date, Springboard’s portfolio numbers 819 women-led companies, which have created $26.9 billion in value over the last 20 years. An outstanding 88% have raised capital, with 216 exits to strategic acquirers and 21 IPOs. The Springboard pipeline is full of current and rising ‘unicorns’ supported by a global network of domain and business scaling experts in the fields of drug development, therapeutics, medical devices, digital health, cybersecurity, AR/VR, retail, robotics, supply chain, AI applications, and renewable energy, among the many tech-driven solutions their innovators are bringing to market.
Notable Springboard Alumnae:
Well-known innovators like Robin Chase of Zipcar, which jump-started the sharing economy; Gail Goodman of Constant Contact, which transformed the way we communicate via email; Helen Greiner of iRobot, whose Roomba vacuum kicked off a whole generation of consumer robotics and Julie Wainwright of The RealReal, who transformed luxury consignment into a leader in the circular economy.
Sheila Mikhail of AskBio, which is making life-saving advances in gene therapy; and Linda Hall of MinuteClinic, whose walk-in telehealth clinics are now ubiquitous in CVS stores nationwide.
Founders of companies that are seizing opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis, such as Melanie Perkins of Canva, an online graphic design and publishing tool; and Julia Cheek of Everlywell, whose at-home COVID-19 test received the first FDA Emergency Use Authorization of its kind.
Springboard has partnered with Accenture (NYSE: ACN) celebrating “Women Transforming Industries” by honoring four women CEOs in the retail and health industries for their technological innovation, an initiative that falls under Springboard and Accenture’s alliance bringing complementary people and resources together to increase opportunities for women entrepreneurs.