If you're currently sitting at your desk dreaming of opening a vegan café in Bali, launching an immersive dining experience with your best mate, or have a revolutionary idea for a fitness app, listen up.
Dating and networking app Bumble has just announced the launch of the Bumble Fund, a new pot of money focused on early stage investments specifically aimed at helping diverse, female entrepreneurs raise capital for their businesses.
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In a statement about the fund’s launch, Sarah Jones Simmer, Bumble Chief Operating Officer said:
'Through Bumble Fund we’ll look not only to support those women leaders who have been largely ignored, but we’ll also demonstrate why those investments build smart, successful businesses.'
The Fund will focus on early-stage investments, primarily in businesses founded and led by women of colour and those from underrepresented groups.
One of the first businesses Bumble Fund has invested in is Sofia Los Angeles, a swimwear company founded by Anasofia Gomez (also one of the winners of Bumble’s first 'Bizz Pitch' competition).
Other recipients include Mahmee, a health care platform for coordinating prenatal and postpartum care, and BeautyCon, the digital media company and festival operator focused on the beauty industry.
TechCrunch reports the new fund will make investments that range from £3,900 to £196,000 in companies led by women and focused on women's interests.
The team also plans to find more potential investments via Bumble’s own Bumble Bizz platform (a business network) and founders to back through its future Bumble Bizz pitch competitions.
In a blog post, the company revealed that startups headed by women had only received 2 per cent of all venture capital last year.
'For black, Latinx, and other women from underrepresented groups, that statistic is even more bleak,' read the post.
'Black women are both the most educated and most entrepreneurial demographic in the US, but received only 0.2 per cent of all venture funding for their startups last year.'
Bumble, whose app now has over 37 million users worldwide and boasts an 85 per cent female workforce, wants to be part of the solution and hopes to help women being 'largely ignored by the venture capital establishment' with this fund.
Suddenly that café doesn't seem like such a far off dream after all.
Download Bumble to create a Bizz profile and find out more about opportunities.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
