Female Founders 2022

NOVEMBER 2022 FEATURED FOUNDERS

TIASIA O-BRIEN
Candace-Mitchell-Harris
TRINI BENSUSAN MILLE
TRINI BENSUSAN MILLE
TRINI BENSUSAN MILLE

On the Way Up: 2022 Female Founders Series

Sponsored by Amazon Alexa Startups

Winter: Pitch Finale!

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Virtual
11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific Time | Look up your time zone

Expand your community. Meet the women launching emerging voice tech. Join the conversation.

Can’t attend live? Sign up anyway – we’ll send you the recording after!

Women in Voice Pitch Events with Alexa Startups

Female-founded companies raised $3.31 billion in 2020, or 2.2% of the year’s total sum, compared to $3.5 billion and 2.6% in 2019. Ouch. Still not over 3%. (Yahoo, 2021). We’d love to support that changing.

Meet our Sponsors!

Pitch Finale

Featured Founders & VCs

Want to pitch in 2023? Apply to Pitch here.

Farzane Ahmadi

Anna Ratala

Co-founder & CEO, Zvook

Anna is the founder & CEO of a podcast advertising marketplace Zvook, helping brands find & scale host-read podcast ads with just a few clicks. She is passionate about storytelling and a big believer in the power of the spoken word.

Anna has been interviewed in a number of podcasts from Podcast Advertising Playbook to Entreprenista, and has been a speaker at numerous events like Podcast Movement. She loves sharing her views about the future of audio, Zvook’s role in shaping that future and her rather unconventional founder journey. Before Zvook she started and ran a big tech startup event in Singapore.

Candace-Mitchell-Harris

Liyani Rodriguez

Co-Founder & CEO, Raddle

Liyani Rodriguez is the CEO/Co-Founder of Raddle, an early-stage startup focused on the future of equitable conversations at work through an AI-powered meeting facilitator. Prior to starting Raddle, Liyani had a successful career as a CPA at PwC and then Connor Group, where she advised high growth tech companies on people, processes and systems as they transitioned from private to public companies. She graduated from University of California Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in business economics and a minor in accounting. Liyani loves anything entrepreneurial (she even has a small aprons company with her husband) and is a new dog mom to a rescue!

Joy Bordini

Iryna Kokhanchyk

Co-Founder & CEO, Lexemic.io

Lexemic.io is the first Content Management System for Alexa and Google voice applications.

“If you want your life to be different, you have to be willing to do something different first!” – this has become not only my favorite quote but also my motto for life. During my student years, I was interested in the latest technologies that are connected to ecology, medicine, and pharmacy. In recent years, though, my attention has shifted to AI, neuroscience, and voice assistants.

I started a local Voice community in Ukraine.

Besides that, back in 2020, I started my own company in the field of voice technology called U-Hertz! During the development of the voice skills, we realized that our customers wanted to manage skills content by themselves. So we started developing our own startup – Lexemic.io – a content management system for Alexa skills.

But enough about business.

One of my favorites are hiking, snowboarding, and really anything that is connected with spending time in the open air and with the people I love! Besides that, I am a pet lover, and have a dog Solar, just like a Solar system 🙂

Candace-Mitchell-Harris

Caroline Laurenson

Creator of Kindspace

Caroline Laurenson is the Managing Director of TL Tech Smart Home Solutions based in Scotland in the UK. TL Tech specialises in supporting people to maintain their independence in their own homes and are passionate about breaking down barriers to help people access digital solutions. In 2020, TL Tech pivoted its business to focus on supporting customers remotely in new innovative ways. In November 2020, Caroline and her team launched Kindspace, a voice application for Amazon Alexa that supports wellbeing, empowers self-care and helps to alleviate loneliness. Caroline found entrepreneurship a little by accident during her own life pivot away from a career in the energy sector and when she’s not working on growing the business, you’ll find Caroline singing, sewing and inspiring others into STEM careers.

Ursula de La Sotta_Website

Ursula de La Sotta

Co-Founder & CPO, Cuentología

Cuentología is on the rise. With more than 3,800 organically registered users, children have spent 270,000 minutes listening on this app to use their imagination, away from the screens. The team recently won the #SocialVentures Pitch Competition at TechRise Chicago.

“Cuentología”, the first digital library of audio stories created by Peruvians and endorsed by psychologists so that Spanish-speaking children develop soft skills, emotional intelligence and foster creativity and imagination, launches its mobile application. The project won the Startup Peru 8G+ contest in the “Innovative Entrepreneurship” category, an initiative of the ProInnóvate program of the Ministry of Production.

“We make new stories, 100% original, that respond to global, local or family challenges between parents and children; The second thing is that all our stories are endorsed by a child psychologist, and by experts who evaluate that they have the necessary components to address positive discipline with tips for parents, with educational material and activities that reinforce learning. The third thing is that we are a quality audio format with a first level agile production that frees children from the screen” said De la Sotta.

(Artículo original en español: Peruanas lanzan aplicativo de audiocuentos para fomentar el desarrollo emocional infantil)

Jenny Xu, Amazon Alexa Startups

Featured VC Panelist

Jenny Xu

Global Business Development Lead at Amazon Alexa Startups

Jenny is the global business development lead at Alexa Startups focusing on supporting underrepresented founders to create ground-breaking voice experiences for customers. She previously led product development across consumer and enterprise products that leveraging computer vision and AI/ML at Amazon. Prior to Amazon, Jenny was the CEO and COO of two venture-backed logistics startups growing from Seed to Series B. Before became a startup operator, she led digital innovation at Bridgestone and founded its Mobility Service group that is building connected hardware and digital solutions for consumer and enterprise customers. Jenny holds an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Western Michigan University.

Jenny Xu, Amazon Alexa Startups

Featured VC Panelist

Shing Pan

Founder and Managing Director, XTVue

Shing has 20+ years of experience in tech innovation, entrepreneurship, marketing, investment banking, and M&A across multiple industries. As managing director of XTVue, Shing provides strategic advice to private and public companies within the Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience Automation and Personalization, Enterprise Visual Computing and Simulation domains. Leveraging her extensive industry and domain knowledge and deep understanding of competitive landscapes, Shing helps companies strategically position for and execute on strategic partnerships, financing, and mergers and acquisitions.

Shing is a startup investor and an independent director for both startup and public boards. She is also a frequent speaker and panelist for leading technology conferences. Shing actively mentors entrepreneurs and women in technology and business. In 2020, Shing was nominated by VentureBeat Transform for Women in AI’s AI Entrepreneur Award. She was recently named Women Leaders in Conversational AI by Project Voice.

PaulaQuintana High Alpha Innovation

Featured Advisor Panelist

Paula Quintana

Building and launching advantaged startups | Senior Analyst, High Alpha Innovation

As a Senior Analyst at High Alpha Innovation, Paula works to launch new startups with partners through business model design, assumption validation, and market research. Her passion to leverage innovation to create positive change and improve lives is evident in her work spearheading DEI initiatives within the High Alpha Innovation community. Paula was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia and now lives in Richmond, VA.

High Alpha Innovation partners with the world’s leading organizations and founders to drive innovation through startup creation, leveraging the venture studio model pioneered by High Alpha.

Maddy Apple WiV CEO

Event Moderator

Maddy Apple

CEO, Women in Voice

Maddy Apple is CEO of Women in Voice (WiV), the global nonprofit supporting women in voice AI. With 9+ years of experience in nonprofit strategy and execution for programming and community events, she was brought on in 2021 as Director of Global Events. Maddy launched and executed the Inaugural Summit and Awards, expanding WiV’s global stage to formally celebrate senior and rising Women+ in Voice and Conversational AI. As WiV’s COO, Maddy ran events, partnerships, and led engagement strategy growing the org by 150% YoY. Prior to WiV, she worked in the nonprofit sector, specializing in membership, marketing, and education while hosting virtual and in-person events for thousands of people. Maddy is a mission-oriented leader driven to engage and serve vibrant professional communities, and amplify underrepresented talent in tech.

Past Founders Include:

Join us at the next event!

Come learn about cutting-edge voice & conversational AI products and companies created & led by women.

RSVP to join us LIVE →

Office Hours for Founders

Quarterly Sessions in 2022

Join us for practical Q&A with advisors, community with founders, and a dose of inspiration.

In your founder journey, have you ever thought…

“I’m not ready to pitch yet.”  “I’m making progress but I’m not sure what the next step is.”

These Office Hours are for you!

On the Way up Elevator Pitch Series Office Hours on August 12

Sponsored By:

Format: Like an office hours in college, drop by to talk to us in an informal way virtually.

Connect with other founders, learn about pitching & talk shop. Learn how our pitch events can help you. Receive support, community, inspiration, motivation!

2022 SESSION SCHEDULE

  • Friday, February 25
  • Friday, April 22
  • Friday, August 12
  • Friday, October 21

Your Hosts:

Maddy Apple
CEO, Women in Voice

Jagruti Bhikha
Founder Rise Together | 2 Decades in Tech, Venture, Startups & Nonprofits in Silicon Valley

You’re invited – pull up a chair.
RSVP to join us!

Women in Voice Pitch Events with Alexa Startups

We’re delighted to host elevator pitch events for Women in Voice Founders to connect with investors and the public at large.

These events build community, connection, and networking opportunities to get feedback, implicit and explicit mentorship, and shape a supportive ecosystem of funding mechanisms for founders with diverse perspectives.

These events serve the WiV Mission by Celebrating, Amplifying, Connecting, and Creating opportunities for women in voice tech.

Three events in this 4-part series have WiV Founders pitch, a short Q&A, and then a larger discussion and feedback round.

For our pitch events, each founder pitches via video to an audience of investors. There is then be 3-5 minutes to field questions.

Post call, founders can follow up with all participants to answer any outstanding questions, provide details to VC panelists, etc. We facilitate intros and support founders any way we can- within reason of course!

Our goal is to get founders exposure and connections to support and capital.

Have someone we should be connected to?

Email admin at women in voice dot org!

Keywords: investor, founder, funding, startup, VC, angel, money, pitch, deck, scaling, money, team, build, venture capital, equity

More about this event

Who is invited? You! These events are open to the public and educational. Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors might be in attendance, but we there is no expectation of investment at these events.

Our goal: facilitate relationships, community, and mentorship between investors and underestimated founders!

Event Flow: VCs, Angel Investors, and Founders will gather to hear a few pre-selected pitches. After each pitch, you’ll have the chance to ask the Founder questions, and offer feedback verbally. We will also have a feedback form for you to submit digitally.

Benefits of attending:

  • Support diverse founders
  • Build relationships across industries
  • Stay on the cutting edge of voice and voice-adjacent technology startups
  • Learn more about Women in Voice community members

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice.

Women in Voice Event Sponsor

Special thanks to Amazon Alexa Startups for sponsoring this event series!

Symbl.AI

Women in Voice Event Sponsor

Special thanks to Symbl.ai for sponsoring our June event!

Women in Voice® is an Approved 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
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