When women-led businesses are supported, funded and have the opportunity to scale, the economy grows. We recently supported a research report on women entrepreneurs in the U.S. from Endeavor Insight which showed that in 2017, more than 1.1 million women-led businesses generated nearly $1.5 billion in revenue and created more than 10 million jobs. 

The report goes on to highlight that if businesses founded by women grow to employ 50 or more people, they can potentially generate over 4 million new jobs and add over $500 billion in additional productivity each year to national GDP. Despite this, many industries, including the technology sector,  still continue to face significant gaps in gender parity. In 2019, only 2.8 percent of all VC funding went to women tech founders. 

Women founders deserve visibility and recognition, which is why Women Techmakers and Google for Startups joined forces to create a new podcast series called Founded. The podcast, built upon the original Founded video series, interviews women tech founders from across the globe. 

Cofounded and hosted by Rana Abdelhamid, each episode will highlight women whose passion and drive led them to grow and scale successful businesses. Their companies are tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues, solving challenges from improving medical diagnosis with AI to using technology to help make learning tools more inclusive.

Founded is not just about their businesses, but the women behind them. 

Our launch series includes six inspiring founders:

To find out more about these women and hear their stories be sure to subscribe and listen to theFounded podcast, out now.

In a time of so much financial uncertainty, one thing is clear: when more women build their own businesses, economies grow. In 2017 alone, more than 1.1 million women-led businesses generated nearly $1.5 billion in revenue and created more than 10 million jobs across the United States.

Despite this rapid growth and enormous potential, women-led companies across the US and Canada face disproportionate challenges when it comes to scaling and expansion. There are nearly three times more men-owned companies that employ 50 or more people compared to companies that are owned by women—and among the small group of women-owned businesses that do reach this size, the founders are disproportionately white women. In Canada, data showed that companies with under 20 employees have been the hardest hit during the current pandemic and, as women are more likely to own newer and smaller businesses, the impact on women founders is more significant than their male counterparts.

To learn more about the current state of women’s entrepreneurship—and identify how we can level the playing field for success for female founders of all backgrounds—Google for Startups teamed up with Endeavor Insight for the 2020 Women in Entrepreneurship Report. Intended to offer practical steps on how to better support women founders, this research included interviews and surveys of more than 1,000 business leaders, conversations with organizations that support women, a review of existing entrepreneurship studies, and analyses of national data. The report also reveals the potential economic and social benefits that could be gained if women were to achieve gender equality in entrepreneurship. Here are two of the report’s key findings:

• Closing wage and wealth gaps. If more women founders could grow their companies to 50 or more employees, it would have a tangible effect on closing the wage and wealth gaps that exist between women and men—and a major effect on the overall economy.
  
• Mentorship is key. Strong networks and mentorship from entrepreneurs who have previously scaled companies is one of the clearest differences between women who scaled their businesses and those who did not.
  

In addition to the research, Google is committed to support and develop women founders and, following our successful launches for accelerator programs for Black founders and Canadian founders,  in June we announced the first Google for Startups Accelerator for Women Founders, a three-month virtual program for seed to Series A technology startups based in the U.S. and Canada. The accelerator, set to start this September, is designed to bring the best of Google's programs, products, people and technology to women-led tech startups across the region. After receiving almost 1,000 applications, we’re thrilled to welcome the inaugural cohort of women entrepreneurs tackling complex problems across the continent, including:

• Coconut Software (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) provides customer engagement solutions that modernize how banks and credit unions engage, creating a streamlined experience for both staff and customers.
  
• COI Energy (Tampa, Florida) brings together utilities and businesses to detect and eliminate energy waste in buildings to optimize the electric grid—creating a climate-friendly economy.
  
• CultivatePeople's (Arlington, Virginia) compensation software,Kamsa, provides global market compensation data and helps companies make data-driven pay decisions, helping eliminate pay gaps.
  
• CurieAI (Santa Clara, California) transforms care for respiratory illnesses like asthma and COPD through AI-based models that help physicians understand respiratory health, disease progression, and treatment effectiveness at an individualized and population level.
  
• Fairygodboss (New York City, New York) is the largest career community for women in the U.S. It provides free resources like career connections, job listings, virtual recruiting events, community advice, and the hard-to-find information about how companies treat women.
  
• Heirlume (Hamilton, Ontario) makes trademark registration as easy and accessible as domain registration by providing the first self-serve professional-quality trademark search and application platform.
  
• Kapwing (San Francisco, California) enables digital storytelling for creative teams and professionals via an online image, video, and GIF editing platform.
  
• Livestock Water Recycling (Calgary, Alberta) uses its machine learning-enabled nutrient recovery technology (PLANT) and myPLANT data dashboard to digitize food producers’ waste outputs, allowing reduced expenses and environmental impact.
  
• My Intelligent Machines [MIMs] (Montreal, Quebec) helps life science companies use their big data and AI to maximize food and drug production.
  
• Possip (Nashville, Tennessee) empowers schools and districts to quickly and routinely hear from their community of families and staff via text message-based pulse checks in over 100 languages.
  
• Wisy (San Francisco, California) develops technology to bring digital efficiency into the physical world, supporting consumer products businesses and making them thrive in the new economy.
  
• Zennea Technologies (Vancouver, BC) aims to be the first clinically-proven medical device for chronic snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea.
  

In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator also includes talks and workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition and leadership development for founders. And to help build lasting professional networks, the cohort will have access to Google executives and successful entrepreneurs like Alison Wagonfeld, Chief Marketing Officer of Google Cloud, and Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi.

Supporting women entrepreneurs isn’t just the right thing to do; it is an opportunity to fuel the economy when it needs it most. Google for Startups is proud to support female founders by connecting them with the best of Google’s people, products and programming. We encourage investors, organizations and decision-makers to follow suit by reading up on how you can best support women entrepreneurs in your communities. Because when women win, we all win.

In 2018, women received only 2.2 percent of all venture capital funding. Women Techmakers, Google’s program to build visibility, community and resources for women in technology, is committed to changing this narrative. That’s why we launched Founded, a web series that shares the stories of women founders who are using tech to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. To highlight the stories of four women of color tech entrepreneurs, for our first season we’re taking our viewers to Atlanta, home of one of the largest technology hubs in the U.S. 

In our latest episode, we interviewed Chrissa McFarlane who is the Founder and CEO of the blockchain startup Patientory (which is also helping distribute diagnostic kits and medical equipment during the COVID-19 crisis). She first learned about bitcoin in 2010, started working on broader blockchain solutions in 2015 and later published her book, "Future Women: Minority Female Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Era of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency."

Tell me about the moment when you first came up with the idea for Patientory. 

I was working with a telemedicine company and experienced first hand the difficulty patients have obtaining access to their medical information. I was also actively researching Bitcoin and Blockchain at the time and made a connection between the two industries. 

What was your vision for healthcare? What problem are you hoping to solve?

For over a decade, the main problem in the healthcare industry is  the topic of interoperability. The ability to access health information securely and easily across multiple providers has been a challenge. I recently wrote about this for the Electronic Health Reporter. 

Where do you see Patientory going within the next five years? 

Looking past our current pandemic, I see Patientory providing the capability to keep large populations of people around the world healthy. This year proved that we need access to digital health solutions more than ever. Telemedicine usage rose over 70 percent for certain apps. Being able to treat patients is not going to stop with an office visit, but should be an ongoing engagement that can be facilitated by technology. 

As a fellow New Yorker, I’m curious about your upbringing in the Bronx. How did it shape your vision for your work?

Growing up in the Bronx, I was exposed to various cultures and many different people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. During my first internship at the New York City Human Resource Administration/Department of Social Services, I met with hundreds of families across the city. This opened me up to  discrepancies that existed, especially as it related to healthcare; it helped to shape the mission behind Patientory in serving all people regardless of class or race.  

What are some of the first steps you took when starting your company?

I found advisors and mentors who would help me for the long-term. One of the most important factors of running a business is having strong relationships. 

 Two years ago, you made headlines after securing $7.2 million in funding in two days. How were you able to raise so much so fast?

Being a pioneer in the space, it was difficult to secure the first round of institutional funding. So we decided to create a cryptocurrency, called PTOY, through our Foundation. More than 1,000 people all over the world purchased the cryptocurrency, which secured over $7 million in funding for Patientory. It also provided grants to support early stage companies building blockchain healthcare solutions, which later translated into interest and continued support for Patientory’s initial capital raise. 

What advice do you have for other women interested in starting their own technology companies? 

Connect with an ecosystem, whether it’s an accelerator or incubator, and never stop talking to customers! I recently wrote a book about women entering the modern entrepreneurial world, and I talk about the 10 important mindsets you should have when you’re starting a business—for example, persistence and coachabilty. 

In 2018, women received only 2.2 percent of all venture capital funding. Women Techmakers, Google’s program to build visibility, community and resources for women in technology, is committed to changing this narrative. That’s why we launched Founded, a web series that shares the stories of women founders who are using tech to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. To highlight the stories of four women of color tech entrepreneurs, for our first season we’re taking our viewers to Atlanta, home of one of the largest technology hubs in the U.S. 

In our latest episode, we interviewed Chrissa McFarlane who is the Founder and CEO of the blockchain startup Patientory (which is also helping distribute diagnostic kits and medical equipment during the COVID-19 crisis). She first learned about bitcoin in 2010, started working on broader blockchain solutions in 2015 and later published her book, "Future Women: Minority Female Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Era of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency."

Tell me about the moment when you first came up with the idea for Patientory. 

I was working with a telemedicine company and experienced first hand the difficulty patients have obtaining access to their medical information. I was also actively researching Bitcoin and Blockchain at the time and made a connection between the two industries. 

What was your vision for healthcare? What problem are you hoping to solve?

For over a decade, the main problem in the healthcare industry is  the topic of interoperability. The ability to access health information securely and easily across multiple providers has been a challenge. I recently wrote about this for the Electronic Health Reporter. 

Where do you see Patientory going within the next five years? 

Looking past our current pandemic, I see Patientory providing the capability to keep large populations of people around the world healthy. This year proved that we need access to digital health solutions more than ever. Telemedicine usage rose over 70 percent for certain apps. Being able to treat patients is not going to stop with an office visit, but should be an ongoing engagement that can be facilitated by technology. 

As a fellow New Yorker, I’m curious about your upbringing in the Bronx. How did it shape your vision for your work?

Growing up in the Bronx, I was exposed to various cultures and many different people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. During my first internship at the New York City Human Resource Administration/Department of Social Services, I met with hundreds of families across the city. This opened me up to  discrepancies that existed, especially as it related to healthcare; it helped to shape the mission behind Patientory in serving all people regardless of class or race.  

What are some of the first steps you took when starting your company?

I found advisors and mentors who would help me for the long-term. One of the most important factors of running a business is having strong relationships. 

 Two years ago, you made headlines after securing $7.2 million in funding in two days. How were you able to raise so much so fast?

Being a pioneer in the space, it was difficult to secure the first round of institutional funding. So we decided to create a cryptocurrency, called PTOY, through our Foundation. More than 1,000 people all over the world purchased the cryptocurrency, which secured over $7 million in funding for Patientory. It also provided grants to support early stage companies building blockchain healthcare solutions, which later translated into interest and continued support for Patientory’s initial capital raise. 

What advice do you have for other women interested in starting their own technology companies? 

Connect with an ecosystem, whether it’s an accelerator or incubator, and never stop talking to customers! I recently wrote a book about women entering the modern entrepreneurial world, and I talk about the 10 important mindsets you should have when you’re starting a business—for example, persistence and coachabilty.