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UBS Commits Additional $2 Million to Expand Project Entrepreneur with the Rent the Runway FoundationUBS and Rent the Runway Foundation today announced the continued expansion of Project Entrepreneur through a two-year, $2 million grant from UBS. The additional funding will help build on the program's early success and brings the firm's total commitment to $5 million, along with the ongoing programmatic and strategic support provided with the objective of leveling the playing field for female founders. 200 female-founded startups have been selected to participate in the third annual Project Entrepreneur Intensive in New York City on April 13-14, 2018, with a keynote address delivered by Arianna Huffington. Among the 200 are 10 finalists who have been given the additional opportunity to participate in the event's pitch competition for a chance to receive grant funding and a spot in a five-week accelerator program hosted at Rent the Runway's headquarters. "Startups led by all-male teams are four times more likely to receive funding than companies with one woman leader [1]. This needs to change," said Jennifer Hyman (News - Alert), CEO and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway. "We are thrilled to continue to partner with UBS in breaking down the barriers for female founders by democratizing the knowledge, resources and networks necessary to build impactful companies." Since its founding in 2015, Project Entrepreneur has trained over 1,600 women entrepreneurs through its educational programs and events, and has maintained its commitment to inclusivity with an ethnic diversity rate of 50% amongst applicants from nearly every state and across 25 industries. More than $18 million has been raised by program alumnae and 100% of the 2016 Project Entrepreneur Accelerator Participants raised seed rounds within 16 months of participating in the program. "Project Entrepreneur illustrates that companies who share a common commitment to changing the narrative for women can be a catalyst for sustainable change," said Jamie Sears, UBS Head of Community Affairs & Corporate Responsibility, Americas. "We've seen firsthand what our UBS Investor Watch research finds - that female founders are the disruptors of our time, more often tapping into a new customer base and looking to make a social impact; we need to ensure they have the resources they need to continue innovating and improving the world around them." The annual PE Intensive provides founders with the opportunity to work with leading entrepreneurs, investors and experts as they transform their early stage ventures into high-growth companies. Among the highlights of this year's PE Intensive:
"The two-day intensive will bring together the most innovative rising entrepreneurs in the country with some of the most influential and inspiring VC's, Founders and CEOs," said Jenny Fleiss, Co-Founder of Rent the Runway and Co-Founder and CEO of Code Eight. "We're excited to continue to have such a wide range of industries represented through our participants and to help propel their businesses and expand their networks." Finalists for the Project Entrepreneur pitch competition were chosen from over 700 applicants across 219 U.S. cities. The 10 selected companies plus two additional wildcard companies (to be chosen during the Intensive) will present at the live pitch competition on Saturday, April 14. Judges will include female investors from First Round Capital, BBG Ventures, 1000 Angels, Greycroft, Advance Venture Partners and Female Founders Fund. Winners will receive a $10,000 grant and participate in the aforementioned five-week accelerator program at Rent the Runway. The accelerator includes on-site training, introductions to investors and coaching and mentorship from Rent the Runway, UBS and other top entrepreneurs and executives. The finalists include:
Follow Project Entrepreneur on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (News - Alert) @pjtentrepreneur, and with the hashtag #PEIntensive18, and learn more about UBS @UBS. ABOUT PROJECT ENTREPRENEUR: Project Entrepreneur is a collaboration between Rent the Runway Foundation and UBS Elevating Entrepreneurs, the firm's flagship philanthropic initiative committed to driving toward a more inclusive landscape for entrepreneurs everywhere. Rent the Runway Foundation and UBS joined forces in September of 2015 to launch Project Entrepreneur, a program designed to address the fact that while women are starting more businesses than ever before, only a small fraction - three percent - generate $500K or more in annual revenue [2]; women also account for less than 10% of founders at high-growth firms [3]. In addition to the venture competition, accelerator program and two-day intensive, Project Entrepreneur also includes multi-city educational events, robust digital resources including #TheTools podcast and an online hub with education modules, feature articles, blog posts and inspirational stories from entrepreneurs. Cooley is the pro bono legal partner of Project Entrepreneur. Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and its philanthropic arm The CAA Foundation, also worked closely with Rent the Runway and UBS to help bring Project Entrepreneur to life. Project Entrepreneur is informed by its Community Advisors: Black Founders; HBCU Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Initiative; Latino Startup Alliance and Venture for America. Advisory Council members can be found at projectentrepreneur.org/about. ABOUT UBS: UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions: Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets. UBS is present in all major financial centers worldwide. It has offices in 52 countries, with about 34% of its employees working in the Americas, 34% in Switzerland, 18% in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 14% in Asia Pacific. UBS Group AG employs approximately 61,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). ABOUT RENT THE RUNWAY: Rent the Runway is transforming the way modern women get dressed - and in turn disrupting the $1.7 trillion fashion industry - through the concept of renting over buying clothing. Founded in 2009 by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, RTR pioneered the 'closet in the cloud' and believes that women everywhere will soon have a subscription to fashion, making renting an indispensable utility while also empowering them to feel like their best selves every day. RTR carries hundreds of thousands of pieces of apparel and accessories by 550+ designer partners with options for work, weekends and special occasions. The company has built proprietary technology, one-of-a-kind reverse logistics operation, and retail stores of the future that bring the dream closet to life. RTR has raised more than $210M from top-tier investors, has more than eight million users, and prides itself on the entrepreneurial, dream-big culture at the company which employs 1,200 people -- 70% of whom are women and 71% are minority/non-white. In 2015, the co-founders launched the Rent the Runway Foundation, supporting thousands of female entrepreneurs in building and scaling their businesses. ### [1] Candida Brush, Patricia Greene, Lakshmi Balachandra & Amy Davis (2017) The gender gap in venture capital- progress, problems, and perspectives, Venture Capital, 20:2, 115-136, DOI: 10.1080/13691066.2017.1349266 [2] According to the 2014 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report [ http://www.womenable.com/content/userfiles/2014_State_of_Women-owned_Businesses_public.pdf ] [3] According to November 2014 Kauffman Foundation Report, Sources of Economic Hope: Women Entrepreneurship View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180402005525/en/ |
