By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Every year, Women 2.0 makes a list of the year’s landmark successes for women entrepreneurs. We celebrated the milestones and accomplishments of 130 women entrepreneurs in 2010 successes, and 125 women entrepreneurs in 2009.
You will want to watch these women grow and their startups evolve. Looking back to 2009, we recognize a handful of female founders from their early days — and now nearing the end of 2011, we recognize these same founders and startups as more refined over time and LOTS of grueling, hard work.
These startups are in the growth stage of the startup. How many jobs will these women entrepreneurs create in 2012? We can’t wait to find out.
Are you a female founder with a success to celebrate in 2011?
To be considered for this list of women entrepreneurs, send an email to foundrtickr@women2.org with your full name, title, company, a link to your company website, a link to your Twitter account, and one sentence about your 2011 accomplishment(s).
Female Founder Successes of 2011
WEB AND MOBILE PRODUCTS:
Alexa Andrzejewski (Founder & CEO, Foodspotting)
Foodspotting was featured on The Today Show and Inc.’s 30 Under 30, and reaches almost 2M downloads. Major redesign launches January 2012. Follow Alexa on Twitter at @ladylexy.
Leah Culver (Founder & CEO, Convore & Grove)
Launched Grove, which provides hosted IRC for companies and was funded by Y Combinator. Follow Leah on Twitter at @leahculver.
Michelle Zatlyn (Co-Founder & User Experience, CloudFlare)
CloudFlare gets more traffic than Twitter, Wikipedia and Amazon combined, and was recognized as the Most Innovative Internet company by WSJ. Follow Michelle on Twitter at @zatlyn.
Rebecca Woodcock (Co-Founder & CEO, Cake Health)
Cake Health launched and was selected as a top 7 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt, raised funding by top seed funds and angels. Follow Rebecca on Twitter at @rebeccawoodcock.
Annie Chang (Co-Founder & Head of UX, LolApps)
6waves-Lolapps launches Ravenskye City (7.5MM monthly unique users) and launches $10MM 6L Gaming Fund to accelerate promising social and mobile games.
Poornima Vijayashanker (Founder & CEO, BizeeBee)
BizeeBee closed an angel round of financing, and built a remote team that helps small businesses across the country grow. Follow Poornima on Twitter at @poornima.
Tracy Osborn (Founder & Designer, WeddingLovely)
WeddingLovely was accepted into both 500 Startups and The Designer Fund as a solo founder/designer. Follow Tracy on Twitter at @limedaring.
Tara Hunt (Founder & CEO, Buyosphere)
Buyosphere pivoted successfully this year and closed a seed round of funding. Follow Tara on Twitter at @missrogue.
Jennifer Wong (Co-Founder & CEO, Alt12 Apps)
Alt12, the creators of BabyBump and Pink Pad, reached over 3M downloads and raised a seed round by top micro-VCs.
Elizabeth Yin (Co-Founder & CEO, LaunchBit)
LaunchBit, an ad network for email, launched out of the 500 Startups incubator program and raised a seed round from angels and VCs. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter at @launchbit.
Amanda Steinberg (Founder & CEO, DailyWorth)
DailyWorth now reaches 200k women daily and secured partnerships with ING Direct, OppenheimerFunds and Mint.com. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @AmandaSteinberg.
Christina A. Brodbeck (Founder & CEO, theicebreak)
Launched theicebreak on both the iPhone and Web, a fun service for couples that makes great relationships awesome. Follow Christina on Twitter at @jellyfishbloom.
Julia Hartz (Co-Founder & President, Eventbrite)
Eventbrite spread their “brite” culture internationally when the company opened a second office in London. Follow Julia on Twitter at @juliahartz.
Becky Cruze (Co-Founder & President, BeCouply)
BeCouply which helps couples have epic social lives, raised pre-seed funding and was featured on CNN, TechCrunch, and The Washington Post. Follow Becky on Twitter at @beckyloveshugs.
Julia Hu (Founder & CEO, LARK)
Launched LARK, silent alarm clock and sleep coach, into Apple stores globally, designed by top sleep experts in the world to help people sleep better. Follow Julia on Twitter at @ourlark.
Aihui Ong (Founder & CEO, Love With Food)
Funded by 500 Startups, Love With Food delivers monthly gourmet samples to your door for a cause, No Kid Hungry, with over 4,000 meals donated in 2011. Follow Aihui on Twitter at @aihui.
Elizabeth Iorns (Co-Founder & CEO, Science Exchange)
Science Exchange, a marketplace for outsourcing science experiments, launched after YC and raised $1.5M seed, led by Andreessen Horowitz. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter at @elizabethiorns.
Ingrid Lestiyo (Co-Founder & CEO, Mobsmith)
Launched Mobsmith, an ad execution platform for premium publishers / ad networks, and raised financing from Blumberg Capital and XG Ventures. Follow Ingrid on Twitter at @mobsmith.
Jen O’Neal (Co-Founder & CEO, Tripping)
Tripping raised a $1M seed round and launched the world’s largest short-term rental platform. Follow Jen on Twitter at @jenoneal.
Cathy Edwards (Co-Founder & CTO, Chomp)
Chomp launched on Android, announced that we are powering search for Verizon’s app store, and launched private beta of Search Ads. Follow Cathy on Twitter at @cathye.
Leah Busque (Founder, TaskRabbit)
TaskRabbit raised $22.8M in 2011, expanded to 6 US major cities, and was featured on World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer as job crisis solution. Follow Leah on Twitter at @labusque.
Patricia Dao (Co-Founder, VoxBloc)
Social rewards platform VoxBloc was acquired in December 2011 by a Virginia-based Dominion Enterprises. Follow Patricia on Twitter at @pattydao.
Cheryl Yeoh (Co-Founder & CEO, CityPockets)
CityPockets raised $750k and was featured in CNN, WSJ, ABC, Fox News and Oprah, and launched new iPhone app version. Follow Cheryl on Twitter at @cherylyeoh.
Jennifer Dulski (Co-Founder & CEO, Dealmap)
Daily deal aggregator startup Dealmap was acquired by Google in August 2011. Follow Jennifer on Twitter at @jdulski.
Maria Ly (Co-Founder, Skimble)
Completely bootstrapped and profitable, Skimble saw 2MM organic downloads while serving a majority female demographic. Follow Maria on Twitter at @marialy.
Ellie Cachette (Founder & CEO, ConsumerBell)
ConsumerBell raised $230k in funding to streamline product recalls, and launched logins for companies to better track their recalls. Follow Ellie on Twitter at @ecachette.
Ada Chen Rekhi (Co-Founder, Connected)
Connected, which provides contact management without the work, was acquired by LinkedIn in October 2011. Follow Ada on Twitter at @adachen.
Jessica Bloomgarden (Founder & CEO, AfterSteps)
AfterSteps, an online end-of-life planning platform, launched out of DreamIt Ventures accelerator program and was featured in Forbes. Follow Jess on Twitter at @jbloomgarden.
Jennifer Toney (Founder & CEO, WeMakeItSafer
WeMakeItSafer launched “Items I Own”, with nearly 2M products checked for recalls, preventing an estimated 850 injuries. Follow Jennifer on Twitter at @Jennifer_Toney.
Sarah Paiji (Co-Founder & CEO, Snapette)
Fashion app Snapette raised a $1.4M and was featured in WSJ, Forbes, Glamour, CNN, Fox News and TechCrunch. Follow Sarah on Twitter at @spaiji.
Joanne Lang (Founder & CEO, AboutOne)
AboutOne closed over $1.6M in Series A and is on target to launch beta release of AboutOne with AcornPoints in 2012. Follow Joanne on Twitter at @AboutOneCEO.
ECOMMERCE
Megan Gardner (Founder & CEO, Plum District)
Plum District, the local commerce platform for moms, raised $20M in Series C financing led by General Catalyst Partners. Follow Megan on Twitter at @mgardnernd.
Ayah Bdeir (Founder, littleBits)
littleBits closes first round of financing from Joi Ito and Nicholas Negroponte, and enters MoMA’s collection! Follow Ayah on Twitter at @ayahbdeir.
Deena Varshavskaya (Founder & CEO, Wanelo)
Wanelo, a place to find the most interesting products online, has crossed 1M monthly visitors. Follow Deena on Twitter at @siberianfruit.
Patricia Calfee (Co-Founder & President, Roses & Rye)
Roses & Rye, an ecommerce apparel company for Moms, launched and featured in WWD and People, and received $1M in funding. Follow Patricia on Twitter at @patriciacalfee.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Eden Godsoe (Co-Founder & CEO, SkinnyScoop)
SkinnyScoop raised over $500k in angel funding, was featured on MSNBC and in Daily Candy, and officially launched its social curation platform. Follow Eden on Twitter at @egodsoe.
BIOTECH, CLEANTECH AND ENERGY
Danielle Fong (Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, LightSail Energy)
LightSail Energy did what many experts said couldn’t be done: dramatically increase efficiency of compressed air energy storage. Follow Danielle on Twitter at @DanielleFong.
Lynn Jurich (Co-Founder & President, SunRun)
SunRun expanded to its tenth state in 2011, spreading solar to more mainstream consumers and installing over $1.5M in solar daily. Follow Lynn on Twitter at @SunRun.
Virginia Klausmeier (Co-Founder & CEO, Sylvatex)
Sylvatex received seed funding and was selected to participate in the Greenstart accelerator program. Follow Megan on Twitter at @SylvatexInc.
SERVICES
Deborah Jackson (Founder & CEO, JumpThru)
Founded JumpThru in February, launched My Tech Letter, launching Blue Glue, co-sponsor Women Innovate Mobile accelerator. Follow Deborah on Twitter at @dbdj1007.
Halle Tecco (Founder & CEO, Rock Health)
Rock Health launched first startup accelerator for health, establishing investments/partnerships with Accel, NEA, Nike, UCSF, Mayo Clinic and more. Follow Halle on Twitter at @halletecco.
Sasha Laundy (Founder, Women Who Code)
Women Who Code launched hack nights and tech talks for women developers in September; by December, there are 600 participants. Follow Sasha on Twitter at @SashaLaundy.
