💸 Kristy Kim’s Tomo Credit Rewrites the Rules of Consumer Credit in the US
FemWealth Issue #70
Happy Sunday, Friends!
Welcome to the 70th edition of FemWealth! As usual, read the latest and greatest in women’s political representation, women-led startups and venture capital, women’s health, and more. Enjoy!
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Politics: 🇮🇳 India elects Droupadi Murmu as first president from tribal community - Droupadi Murmu, a 64-year-old school teacher turned politician, will be the second woman to hold the largely ceremonial role as head of the republic.
Startups: 💸 TomoCredit raises $22M at a $222M valuation toward its goal of making credit scores ‘obsolete’- The Bay Area-based consumer credit card provider, founded and led by Kristy Kim, aims to help young adults who are in good financial health but have no credit score in the US. It has raised a $122 million Series B in equity and debt financing.
🦸🏽♀️ Southeast Asia’s Creative Galileo wants to make learning fun with popular cartoon characters - The Singapore-based edtech platform, co-founded by Prerna A. Jhunjhunwala, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding.
💸 Posterity Health raises seed funding to help address male fertility needs - Co-founded and led by Pam Pure, the digital male fertility platform offers personalized advice, educational resources, and treatments to help address male fertility needs. It has raised a $6 million seed funding led by Distributed Ventures.
💸 Female-founded Startup picks up $2.8M to make parenting easier through Technology - The family management startup founded by Mei Lin Ng, Susie Harrison and Nathalie Stratton has announced that it has secured $2.8M funding from Female Founders Fund, Stellation VC, Precursor Ventures, Reshma Saujani, Jenny Fleiss, and strategic individual investors. The company’s core product combines hardware with software to create a central hub for the thousands of decisions, tasks, and plans a family makes.
💸 The Lowdown, U.K.’s Leading Sexual And Reproductive Health Platform, Raises $2.5 Million In Seed Investment - Founded by Alice Pelton, the startups aims to deploy the fresh funding to scale its contraception review platform in Europe. Speedinvest’s Andrea Zitna, who led the round, is joining The Lowdown’s board.
“I wanted to start a company, but I actually created a movement. Through The Lowdown, women are empowered to educate themselves and get the medical advice they really need. This has helped over one million women so far feel heard, reassured and informed - and we’re using this feedback loop to develop products and solutions that help solve women’s health problems.” - Alice Pelton
🤱🏽 Postpartum Recovery Femtech Startup Finds Success By Diversifying - Ellen Kellogg, Eden Laurin, Mia Clarke, and Aubrey Howard, cofounders of Nyssa, are addressing the postpartum recovery of new mothers.
🔆 Look out Putin — Ukrainian woman invents ‘solar for balconies’ to wean Europe off Russian gas - Co-founded by Karolina Attspodina, a Ukrainian-born serial entrepreneur, WeDoSolar produces “vertical solar power” panels specifically designed to be mounted, with weatherproof straps, onto to balconies by non-tech-savvy users.
VC: 💸 London-based Vektor Partners announces €125M fund to invest in sustainable mobility startups - Isabel Falkenberg is one of the firm’s co-founders.
💸 Kenyan VC firm FrontEnd Ventures unveils fund to back local founders - The firm co-founded and led by Njeri Muhia has raised $1 million of a $5 million target for its first fund.
“We are investing in Kenyan founders because we believe in our thesis that people who have lived experiences have a much better chance of creating products that address related nuances. This means investing in local women founders too, since they bring with them a different profile of experiences, solutions and ingenuity that is unmatched.” - Njeri Muhia
💸 A first-time VC raised $2 million in 2 months to invest in women after Roe was overturned - Erika Lucas has launched a new firm - VEST Her Ventures - to back women-led pre-seed or seed startups in the future of work or care economy space. She is seeking to raise another $18 million by the end of the third quarter.
“I feel like if we want to really see a change, and we want to see it faster, we’re going to have to start funding women. And not just women entrepreneurs—but women who are focusing on delivering solutions that are redefining the way we work and integrate life.” - Erika Lucas
❗Why Female Entrepreneurs Welcome The End Of The Girlboss Era—Once And For All
“The heyday of female founders or Girlbosses has actually made the situation more difficult because it clouds the reality that it’s as difficult as ever to raise money as a woman.” – Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway CEO and Co-founder
“When a female founder steps down, it’s a headline like ‘The Death of the Girlboss’. “When a guy does it? There’s no real headline because it happens so frequently that it’s no big deal.” - Laura Behrens Wu, Founder and CEO of logistics company Shippo
Women’s Health: 🇬🇧 Women's health: Plan to stop 'sexist' NHS treatment - As part of the UK’s women’s health strategy, medical students and new doctors in England will be given mandatory training to better treat female medical conditions. Access to NHS fertility treatment as well as dedicated women’s health hubs will also be expanded. Read more here.
💊 Free the pill — and make it free - By Halle Tecco
“It is past time to implement reasonable measures to make birth control more obtainable, convenient, and affordable — or even free — for all.” - Halle Tecco
Culture: 📚 Michelle Obama’s book ‘The Light We Carry’ coming this fall - In her new book the former US First Lady reflects upon her experiences and shares insights on navigating an increasingly stressful world.
“I’ve learned it’s okay to recognize that self-worth comes wrapped in vulnerability, and that what we share as humans on this earth is the impulse to strive for better, always and no matter what.” - Michelle Obama
Sports: ⚽ The secret to England’s record-breaking Euros campaign? Period power - England Women’s Football Team harnesses players’ awareness about their menstrual cycles to manage symptoms and boost performance.
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
The 'aspiration gap': Why many women aim lower than men
“Even as the number of diversity initiatives has increased , especially in the last decade, our meta-analysis shows the gender difference in leadership aspirations has remained the same over the past 60 years. This could suggest that, either current diversity initiatives do not address women’s concerns around these roles, or that the initiatives are too general and need to be more tailored to women’s specific needs.” - Ekaterina Netchaeva, Assistant Professor at Bocconi University
Thank you for reading! 🥰 Have a lovely Sunday!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth