Chief secures $22MM to further champion female leadership
While strides were made this spring when Glossier, Rent the Runway, and Away achieved coveted unicorn status, there’s still plenty of work to be done. Per PitchBook, as of May 2018, out of 239 venture-backed companies globally, fewer than 25 counted a female among their founding teams. But numbers show that backing women is a better bet. Despite the investment gap, when you look at data from last year, women-led startups generated 78 cents for every dollar of funding versus 31 cents from male-founded startups. When women lead there are concrete benefits, yet there have been few formalized efforts to cultivate and connect senior female executives. Enter Chief.
Chief, a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there, is engaging and empowering standout female leaders. Since launching in January in New York, founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan have created an unmatched community over 700 strong, with executives from more than 500 companies including HBO, Walmart, LVMH, Sotheby’s, JetBlue, Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, IDEO, Hulu, SoulCycle, PepsiCo, Verizon, Omnicom, Chobani, UNICEF, Instagram, and Google.
Having co-led the Seed round last year, we could not be more proud and impressed at what these two have accomplished in a short amount of time. Today they announced a $22 million Series A co-led by General Catalyst and Inspired Capital, adding two visionary leaders, Ken Chenault, former CEO and Chairman of American Express, and Alexa von Tobel, founder of Learnvest, to Chief’s board.
As the only organization specifically designed for senior women leaders — rising VP level through CEO — we cannot wait to continue to see what powerful change Carolyn and Lindsay bring to New York and beyond. To complement current membership, which includes critically acclaimed peer groups, events, and programming, the new capital will power an even more robust digital network, new Chief clubhouse locations, and more community building initiatives.
Huge congrats to Carolyn and Lindsay on this Series A milestone. For more on the exciting Series A news, click here.
— Ben Sun, Primary General Partner
