As women continue to strive for equality in the workplace, venture capital remains steps behind. A recent article by the Harvard Business Review reported that less than 3 percent of all VC investment goes to companies founded by women–despite the fact that, on average, women-led companies are more innovative and perform better. That’s what makes HearstLab, an investment arm of the global media and information conglomerate Hearst, so visionary. Over the last five years, HearstLab has quietly become one of the most active investors in early-stage, women-led B2B SaaS companies, with an aggregate total portfolio valuation surpassing $2.4B.

HearstLab, an investment firm powered by the 130+ year old media giant, is closing the gender gap in venture capital

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DISCOVER

We are committed to driving a diverse and equitable startup landscape — one where women are building big profitable businesses and launching products that they see the world needs."

GlossGenius was launched in 2017 by founder and CEO Danielle Cohen-Shohet as a vertical SaaS platform designed specifically to serve the beauty and wellness industry. Its innovative platform enables business owners to grow their business and maximize income through a full suite of automated business features like booking appointments and payments. These features allow beauty professionals to focus on being creators, not admins. Six years later, GlossGenius is now one of the beauty industry’s best and fastest-growing booking and payments solutions, serving hundreds of companies and powering tens of thousands of transactions totaling millions of dollars. They are featured as one of Forbes’ 2023 Next Billion-Dollar Startups. “A high percentage of women work in beauty, and we found they were massively underserved when it came to the product GlossGenius provides,” said Cohen-Shohet. “GlossGenius is a gateway for these business owners to succeed.”

Meet GlossGenius, One of HearstLab’s Earliest Investments

The mission of GlossGenius was put to the test in 2020 when the entire industry came to a halt due to the pandemic. GlossGenius helped their customers to apply for PPP loans and keep their businesses alive. In five short days, GlossGenius facilitated $45 million in loans for their companies. “There are moments I’ll never forget in this journey,” recalled Cohen-Shohet, “and many of them have been here with HearstLab. HearstLab is like a greenhouse. A greenhouse helps seeds germinate faster. From my first meeting with Eve (Burton), everyone at HearstLab was dedicated to supporting our growth.”

Especially given its connectivity to a wide array of media brands, HearstLab is always seeking companies that will impact the future of media. “The digital media ecosystem is in a perpetual state of transformation and disruption,” said Michelle Clemente, Hearst’s VP of Product and Ad Strategy. In a media landscape where attention is constantly fragmented, it’s Clemente’s job to discover how to capture and retain customers’ attention by putting the customer at the center of the media experience. Four HearstLab portfolio companies are fundamentally reshaping their respective parts of this ecosystem:

The Future of Ads, Product, and Digital Marketing

By StoryStudio on September 27, 2023

GlossGenius is now one of the beauty industry’s best and fastest-growing booking and payments solutions.

- Eve Burton, Chairwoman of HearstLab and the Executive Vice President of Hearst

Clutch (by Madison Long), helps connect brands with next-gen digital marketing and creative talent. Statusphere (by Kristen Wiley), helps brands efficiently connect and scale with the most relevant micro-influencers. Highlight (by Dana Kim), helps R&D and innovation teams at CPG brands scale in-home product testing data & feedback. Barometer (by Tamara Zubatiy), provides AI-powered insights around brand suitability in digital audio advertising.

What quality do all four of these HearstLab portfolio companies share? All are helping brands gain consumers’ trust. As the founder of Barometer, Tamara Zubatiy, summed it up, “brand trust is built in drops, and lost in buckets.”

HearstLab Scouts & the Intersection of Sports, Support, and Sustainability

Achieving equality in the VC space is about more than just finding and funding women-led companies. It’s about helping them go big. A key part of HearstLab’s success is attributed to their “Scouts,” a network of over 160 women executives from across Hearst businesses who volunteer their expertise, talent, and time to provide founders with tactical feedback and operational support. Most importantly, HearstLab Scouts are on the front lines of innovation, discovering new talent and cutting-edge solutions they believe in. This means helping get founders plugged into the Hearst network, where there’s a win-win. “HearstLab is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career,” said Clemente, who sits on HearstLab’s Scout Advisory board. “It really keeps me going.”

Achieving equality in the VC space is about more than just finding and funding women-led companies. It’s about helping them go big.

Last but not least, HearstLab prioritizes sustainability. Honor McGee has been working on sustainability in both her role as Hearst’s Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility and as a HearstLab Scout. McGee works in concert with ESG analysts like Jill Valdes to identify sustainability solutions across Hearst units, educating the public, lowering Hearst property carbon emissions (Hearst Tower was Manhattan’s first LEED-certified corporate tower), and offering B2B solutions that enable other companies to achieve their climate goals. This includes collaborating with HearstLab portfolio companies like Barn2Door (founded by Janelle Maiocco). Barn2Door works with farmers who promote sustainable and regenerative practices. The company’s incredible impact on local farming communities is made possible by the Barn2Door platform, which allows farmers to sell direct-to-market, both in person and online.

HearstLab Scouts help founders plug into the Hearst network and provide guidance.

In the last year, the number of AI companies that have pitched HearstLab has more than tripled. It is more critical than ever to cut through the noise to identify real use cases and solutions driving, differentiated impact. Companies highlighted at the HearstLab showcase include:

Would This Really be a 2023 VC Showcase Without AI?

TimeStudy (by Kishau Rogers), reduces healthcare worker burnout and improves patient outcomes by understanding and optimizing how a healthcare system’s workforce spends their time. HiOperator (by Liz Tsai), boosts human-powered customer support while helping companies tackle data structure and readiness to successfully leverage AI. Narratize (by Katie Trauth Taylor), helps innovators take complex scientific and technical ideas and turn them into effective stories for product development, marketing, and beyond. ALL3D (by Amra Tareen), is revolutionizing scalable product visualization for photoshoots, e-commerce, and more.

Scouts often hold high-profile positions at Fortune 500 companies. Kati Fernandez is the Director of Content Development and Integration for ESPN. As one of HearstLab’s Scouts from across all divisions of Hearst, Fernandez earned early access to VRTL. Founded by Courtney Jeffries and Tricia Viole, VRTL empowers fans who may not be able to attend professional sporting events in person to engage like never before with the teams and sports they love. Under Fernandez’s guidance, VRTL has secured a partnership with ESPN, ensuring VRTL will be integrally involved in the future of fan engagement. HearstLab also invests in companies who are empowering women in the workforce. Maria Walsh, Hearst’s Global Benefits leader and another HearstLab Scout Advisory Board Member, hosted a fireside chat at the HearstLab showcase to highlight the work of HearstLab portfolio companies that are increasing employee retention and productivity. Portfolio members like Bodily, SupportPay, and Wellthy are supporting women at critical junctures in their lives: the birth of a child, navigating divorce and becoming a single parent, and managing the caregiving responsibilities of, for example, a sick parent. By providing employee benefits that reflect the reality of the human, especially female, experience, employee productivity can increase by 80%, proving that supporting women in the workplace helps – not hinders – companies.

As HearstLab continues to expand its reach across all sectors of business, tech, and media, they’re looking for the next innovative additions to their dynamic, women-led portfolio. While expanding their reach by hosting pitch events around the globe, HearstLab will become even more essential to narrowing the gender gap in VC funding while promoting values and ideas that will change the world. Upcoming HearstLab pitch events include San Antonio, Madrid, and New York City. Learn more or apply at HearstLab.com.

Closing the gender gap in VC

60+

$2.4B

150+

Women-led investments to date

Aggregate portfolio valuation

Scouts in the Hearst-wide network

But first…Why Hearst, and Why B2B SaaS?

The proof is in the pudding. “HearstLab is closing the gender gap in venture capital,” says Eve Burton, Chairwoman of HearstLab and the Executive Vice President of Hearst. “We are committed to driving a diverse and equitable startup landscape — one where women are building big profitable businesses and launching products that they see the world needs.” But HearstLab is more than just an investor. HearstLab is a partner in these companies’ success by helping founders build sustainable and highly scalable businesses. This partnership was evident at the recent 2023 HearstLab Showcase event held at the Hearst Tower in Manhattan, where the theme of “Innovation & Collaboration in Action” was impossible to miss. Stakeholders from across Hearst as well as 20+ of HearstLab’s portfolio companies joined forces to share how their companies are changing the future of advertising, digital marketing, healthcare and wellness, fan engagement, AI, and beyond.

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