6 female founders who recently launched startups in Austin

by Kelly O'Halloran
March 8, 2017

International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8 to honor the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the world. The first observance, organized by the Socialist Party of America, occurred in 1909 to remember the 1908 strike of the International Ladies Garment Worker's Union.

While the ratio of men to women in Austin is 51 to 50 percent respectively, the Austin tech sector's gender ratio is closer to 79 to 21 percent. Slowly but surely, however, Austin women are infiltrating the male-dominated space. Here are six womenpreneurs who founded local startups within the last year. 

 

In 2016, Carol O'Brien enlisted the technical help of her brother-in-law to launch Get Involved. The software platform enables social good organizations to track and manage their fundraising efforts more efficiently, in lieu of using third-party crowdfunding pages. 

“We make it as easy as possible for people to get involved,” said O’Brien in our January profile. “When people get involved in a campaign’s cause and have taken some action in the past to help, they are 25 to 30 percent more likely to donate in the future.”

 

 

Park Evergreen, one of just 44 startups accepted into Silicon Valley's prestigious 500 Startups accelerator program, was co-founded by Jenn Starr and Ben Cantey in early 2016. Their B2B parking platform helps companyies offer unlimited downtown parking for employees using a real-time network of available spots across shared lots. 

“Our competitors are going more after the consumer market, maybe those who go downtown one to two times a week,” said Starr in November. “We’re looking at who goes downtown every day, and these are employees. I think that 500 saw that we are really looking at it from a different perspective, and we’re gaining traction with investors because of this.” 

 

 

A seasoned sales rep for over 15 years, Victoria McClure teamed up with software consultant Vadim Ismajev to launch Grace in late 2016. They are developing autopilot tracking solutions for CRM management platforms like Salesforce that include machine learning algorithms to predict sales forecasts. 

“The most common feedback we get is, ‘Is it ready yet?’” said McClure in September

The Grace team has since been working on their sentiment analysis feature to measure customer reactions.

 

 

Following its soft launch in October, Practice Well has quickly seen over 200 wellness practices sign up for their management solutions software. Virginia Pruthi and Tony Cassandra co-founded the Austin startup, which offers cloud-based, modernized and customizable tools designed for smaller offices. 

“They were helping me, and I wanted to help them in return,” said Pruthi in December, regarding the team of dietitians, acupuncturists, physical therapists and chiropractors who helped her overcome her autoimmune conditions. 

 

 

NYC's Rent the Runway launched in 2009 providing fashionistas with a cost-effective method of wearing designer dresses to weddings, parties, nights out and more. The catch? You send it back after wearing. In 2016, Kelly Ernst took a similar approach, launching a rental, subscription platform exclusively for designer jeans from Austin called Redenim

“We’re a rotating closet of designer jeans,” said Ernst in December. “We’re PaaS — pants as a service.” 

 

 

Five months after moving to Austin in 2016, Christina Fuentes and her husband Jason joined forces to launch Get Wagging. Their dog collar monthly subscription service ships out collars and leashes that are manufactured here in town. When dog owners receive their shipments, they have the option to return the previous month's collar or leash, which is then donated to a local dog shelter. 

“With brands like TOMs, people are able to give back, but they aren’t included in the physical process,” said Christina in January. “But with us, they are. I think they like being a part of the process.” 

 

 

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