P&G Ventures Teams with The Riveter to Host Open for Business: Women Building the Future

Free Virtual Event Series to Address $1B Funding Gap for Female Founders

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Jun 11, 2021, 13:09 ET

CINCINNATI, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In a year where a pandemic brought unthinkable economic uncertainty, one surprising bright spot was the record amount of venture funding for U.S. startups--$143 billion in 2020, up 12 percent from the previous year. But that good fortune was not shared evenly, according to Crunchbase, because in that same year funding to venture-backed companies founded solely by female entrepreneurs dropped 22 percent—representing $1 billion in lost funding.

With this funding gap in mind, P&G Ventures, the internal startup studio of Procter & Gamble, is joining forces with The Riveter to launch Open for Business: Women Building the Future, a free event series focused on bridging that gap. These virtual events will provide female entrepreneurs with resources, insights and inspiration to help them overcome any obstacles standing in the way of growing their businesses. A group of over 20 seasoned start-up executives at XFactor Ventures, a seed fund for female founders built by female founders, are also joining the series to provide expertise, experience and meaningful feedback.

This month-long series of conversations will bring together experts and stakeholders from different sectors of the entrepreneurial landscape, including venture capital investors, female founders of technologically superior fast-moving consumer goods, accelerator leaders, and both university and federal labs.

The series is comprised of four main events:

The Big Idea [Thursday, June 17 at 4:00 pm ET] will feature female founders who have successfully scaled their own consumer product businesses sharing advice and takeaways from their personal experiences.
How We Scaled [Thursday, June 24 at 4:00 pm ET] will focus on sharing stories from individuals and entities that foster networks, funding and ideas. We are thrilled to partner with Clubhouse's incredible Women Founders Club led by Liana Fricker of Inspiration Space and Katherine Lynn of Nextsteps for this audio-only discussion.
Speed Mentoring [Wednesday, June 30 at 4:00 pm ET] will give attendees the chance to connect with experienced mentors who can help them advance their entrepreneurial journey. We are excited to partner with XFactor Ventures for this event, a venture capital fund led by female founders across the world.
Start-Up Showcase [Thursday, July 8 at 7:00 pm ET] will close out the month of programming and give four female-founders the chance to showcase their fast-moving consumer goods innovations while sharing their ideas with mentors and an audience of peers and potential investors.

"P&G believes in equality for everyone. Having representation in the startup space is not only the right thing to do, but it's good for business," said Betsy Bluestone, Senior Director of Global Scouting and Partnerships for P&G Ventures. "We are proud to be teaming up with The Riveter on this series to support and encourage female founders. The disparity of resources available to women-led businesses can seem insurmountable, but we hope these kinds of conversations bring us one step closer to a more level playing field."

"At the Riveter we partner with those who share our goals of bringing awareness to and breaking down the barriers women in the workforce face every day," said Amy Nelson, founder of The Riveter. "We are so excited to be partnering with P&G Ventures for this project, because we believe these events will bring women together to help each other succeed."

Additional panelists, judges and other featured participants will be shared as they are confirmed.

This series will be shared across The Riveter's platform, which includes their website and newsletter. Register for the series here. For updates on these events and more, follow P&G Ventures on Twitter and LinkedIn, and The Riveter on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About P&G Ventures
P&G Ventures is an early-stage startup studio within P&G that creates new brands and businesses by partnering with entrepreneurs, visionaries, and startups—with customized partnerships, unique to them, to deliver a win-win, and create products, brands and businesses that solve consumer needs in new categories for P&G.

About Procter and Gamble
P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

About The Riveter
The Riveter is an online community and media company sharing stories, skills and tools for women working to advance their lives and careers. The Riveter's newsletter reaches hundreds of thousands across the world and focuses on the amazing work women are doing in emerging and traditional industries. The community works together to champion and elevate the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion in work and in business.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Byrne, [email protected]
Taylor Anderson, [email protected]

SOURCE Procter & Gamble