Funding the women building the future

Our vision is a world where every woman impact entrepreneur can reach her full potential — and it is well-known that funding lies at the heart of making that possible. Securing finance remains one of the top three hurdles women entrepreneurs must overcome, behind difficulty achieving profitability and balancing their business with family and personal commitments.

For each of the past three editions of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Regional Awards, we received eligible applications from more than 80 countries. Only about 1 in 5 of these women had not raised outside funding by the time they applied. Of the 80% who had received external financing, an average of 61% had raised grants, 35% equity or quasi-equity, and 34% debt.

The women who apply to the Cartier Women’s Initiative want to grow the social and environmental impact their businesses already generate, which often requires additional funding. Our program aims to tackle the unique blend of challenges women impact entrepreneurs face. So, in addition to awarding a grant to each fellow, we seek to improve their access to financial capital through community, mentorship and connection opportunities.

How fellows are funded

The data in our 2025 Annual Report is based on a survey of recent fellows from the 2021, 2023 and 2024 editions. In 2024, 66% of the respondents secured outside funding despite a challenging fundraising environment. Fifty-four percent received grants ($228,000 USD on average), 24% raised equity ($2.4 million USD on average) and 22% secured debt financing ($153,000 USD on average). 

Each type of capital has its benefits and challenges. We endeavor to assist fellows in selecting the fundraising method or capital combination that suits their business best, and to support their subsequent fundraising journey. To this end, we offer coaching on how to prepare their business for investment and soft skills training on how to present themselves and the business in a way that appeals to investors.

Expert mentors help to unlock investment opportunities

The Cartier Women’s Initiative cultivates relationships with investors who understand that women impact entrepreneurs are an overlooked source of investment potential. We invite these values-aligned investors to serve as jury-mentors who, after selecting the fellows, go on to advise, guide and connect fellows across their networks. Some investors in our community are also invited to volunteer as a capital mentor.

A capital mentor’s goal is to support fellows’ fundraising journeys so they can scale their businesses and impact. In practice, capital mentors' assistance often extends further. For example, capital mentor Anna Raptis actively leveraged her network to open doors for 2023 fellow Atilana Piñón, including supplying introductions to investors who proved instrumental to her impact business Retorna’s future. As their relationship deepened, Anna also invested in Retorna through her fund Amplifica Capital.

Dan Madhavan, another capital mentor, explains, “I took on the role because I think there are some fundamental elements of the capital-raising process that are really easy to get wrong, but they can be just as easy to fix. For example, are you telling the right story to the right type of investors? Are you talking to the right investors for you?

“In almost all cases, I see founders underestimate how long it takes to raise capital, how many investors they will need to speak to, and generally how difficult the capital-raising process can be. It can also feel incredibly lonely, so it’s critical that founders have the right support.”

Facilitating investor connections

The Cartier Women’s Initiative’s investor connections program has evolved over time: from labor-intensive fellow-by-fellow investor-matching into an online database where fundraising fellows submit key information about their business, the type of capital and amount they are raising, and any related non-financial asks. The database is circulated to aligned investors twice per year. Potential backers can request to be connected with the fellow(s). After a warm introduction by the Cartier Women’s Initiative team, fellows can begin to foster and build the relationship.

“Fundraising is a process of inviting investors to enter into a relationship with you and the business you are building,” Dan Madhavan advises. “Too often, founders approach investor engagement as a process that ends in a transaction. But the deal itself is only a milestone in a relationship that often begins long before the term sheet and should continue long after the capital is deployed. 

“No investor is going to provide you with capital based on an application or a pitch deck. They are going to want to understand your business and its potential. They will also want to form a view about you. If they are an equity investor, they may be invested in your business and you for a very long time. They will need to believe in your vision — and that you are the one who can deliver it.

“It is particularly important for founders who are more familiar with grant funding to understand the difference between the acquittal process for a grant and the engagement process for a shareholder, who now owns part of your business, or a lender, who needs ongoing comfort that they are going to be repaid.” 

Benefiting from advisors who understand the journey

Businesses that prioritize social or environmental outcomes are sometimes perceived as less scalable or less profitable, despite evidence to the contrary, which can add an extra layer of complexity to seeking funding. Some fellows have moved from impact entrepreneurship to impact investment, enabling them to offer invaluable support to their peers based on their own experience. 

One such example is 2012 fellow Cécile Réal, whose business Endodiag creates diagnosis and advanced biopsy tools to fight endometriosis. In addition to Endodiag, Cécile also founded Medevice Capital, a seed fund specializing in medical devices.

Community members with experience from both sides of the investor/investee relationship offer a unique perspective. Cécile met 2024 fellow Lynne Lim during the awards week of Lynne’s fellowship year, when Cécile was serving as a jury member. Their immediate spark led to her joining the advisory board of Lynne’s company NousQ, which benefited from the strength of Cécile’s investor network in its over-subscribed $7.5 million USD Pre-Series A funding round.

Creating connection opportunities 

A game-changing investor connection can hinge on presence as much as preparation — being in the right room at the right time to meet the person who will believe in what you are building. Women need better access to those rooms. With this access challenge in mind, the Cartier Women’s Initiative offers opportunities to bring fundraising fellows and investors together. 

2024 fellow Erica Cole is the founder of No Limbits, which creates affordable, adaptive clothes for people with disabilities. Erica attended SOCAP Global, the world's largest gathering for impact investors, social entrepreneurs and sustainability leaders, as part of a dedicated Cartier Women’s Initiative founder showcase, and it proved pivotal. She explains, “Attending SOCAP allowed me to close my funding round and connect with meaningful investors in the accessibility space.”

Several years prior at the same event, 2020 fellow Kelly Nguyen, founder of intelligent medication management mobile application DrKumo, found herself in a real-life “elevator pitch” scenario. Kelly recalls, “What began as a chance encounter at SOCAP 2022 evolved from a seconds-long pitch in an actual elevator into a $1.3 million USD CalGrows grant from the California government to address the state’s shortage of 3.2 million caregivers. That single moment of opportunity birthed our healthcare education provider DrKumo Academy. As a result, we delivered over 225,000 hours of training to 8,000 caregivers across 345 cities in under a year."

Smaller grants and loans can have outsized impact

Impact and concessional funding, even in modest amounts, can be catalytic. For some women impact entrepreneurs, it is a springboard that helps their business access larger tranches of commercial or institutional finance. 

Noha Khater, fellow and founder of medtech business Almouneer, received a $30,000 USD grant as a finalist in the 2018 awards. This support played an integral role in getting her solution off the ground. She explains, “The grant from the Cartier Women’s Initiative came at a critical moment for us. We used it to develop the first version of our technology platform, helping us move from a concept to a working product and demonstrate real value to partners and early investors.”

“What makes catalytic funding so powerful is not just the capital, but the belief, validation and momentum it creates. The Cartier Women’s Initiative grant was the seed that led to much larger investment and opportunities, and the support, mentorship and community around it have continued to shape our journey.”

Starting in 2022, the Cartier Women’s Initiative helped fellows including Valentina Rogacheva to access loans at preferential interest rates. This support helped to enhance their post-pandemic financial resilience in the short term. Over the longer term, it also increased their businesses’ appeal for traditional investors by demonstrating creditworthiness, and showing that a reputable lender has already assessed the business and deemed it viable, thus reducing perceived risk.

Verqor, the business founded by 2021 fellow Valentina, provides data-based cashless credits to financially excluded smallholder farmers, which they can use to buy agricultural supplies on Verqor’s platform. The loan was used to fund organic inputs for farmers. Valentina explains, “This loan helped us to start generating traction in our own loan tape, which later was one of the key factors for unlocking a credit facility of $3 million USD from Addem Capital.”

2020 fellow Adriana Luna Diaz, founder of regenerative agriculture biotech company Tierra de Monte, is another example. A small loan received through the fund later helped her unlock an additional $200,000 USD. 2024 fellow Mercedes Bidart had a similar experience, describing the loan as “critical for liquidity” and beneficial for opening doors, including aiding her in accessing a further $2.7 million USD in debt financing.

Sharing due diligence with investors

As part of the fellow selection process, the Cartier Women’s Initiative conducts thorough virtual due diligence of the top five businesses in each award category. When fellows are fundraising, they can request for this due diligence memo to be shared with their potential investors. 

This is especially valuable when they are liaising with smaller investors who may have limited capacity to review businesses in the same depth. Just as getting a first loan signals that another lender has deemed the business creditworthy, receiving a due diligence memo can facilitate trust and relationship-building with a future investor.

A holistic approach to unlocking funding

While some women impact entrepreneurs do not require outside financing, many do. By combining financial support with community, mentorship, visibility and connections, the Cartier Women’s Initiative provides women impact entrepreneurs with better access to a wider range of funding opportunities.