According to the Center for Venture Research, women-owned ventures accounted for only 16 percent of all businesses seeking funding, with only 24 percent of the women receiving angel investment in the first half of 2013. So, how to help female entrepreneurs find investors? Perhaps by a crowd-funding site. Forbes reports that Plum Alley, which launched as an e-commerce site a year ago, has added a crowd-funding component. The site’s founders told the Wall Street Journal that they’re hoping to discover “the next Tory Burch, the next Kate Spade, the next Bethenny Frankel.”
The site uses a reward-based investment model pretty much identical to those employed by Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but focuses on products developed by women. “A Kickstarter of one’s own,” if you will.
