Acerta co-founder Greta Cutulenco (left) and Mental Canvas founder Julie Dorsey won the first Female Founders Competition. (Microsoft Photos)
Microsoft’s investment arm M12 on Tuesday announced the winners of its inaugural Female Founders Competition that awarded $4 million to two women-led startups.
Acerta, an AI startup based in Waterloo, Ontario, and Mental Canvas, a digital drawing company based in New York City, beat out hundreds of other submissions and will join the M12 portfolio. Each will receive a $2 million investment and access to other resources.
Microsoft partnered with EQT Ventures and SVB Financial Group to launch the competition earlier this year as a way to narrow a huge gap in investment in startups founded by women. Less than 3 percent of venture capital dollars went to all-women founding teams last year while 17 percent of founders had a female founder in 2017.
“This competition, while a small step to shift how we sourced deals, not only showed us that there is more than one way to effectively discover talent and expand networks, but it’s our responsibility as venture capitalists to begin leveling the playing field so those companies receiving funding are a truer reflection of the world in which we live,” Peggy Johnson, Microsoft EVP of Business Development, said in a blog post.
M12’s push to recognize female founders comes as Microsoft is dealing with an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuits brought by current and former female technical employees. Overall, Microsoft’s headcount is 28 percent women as of June 30, up a percentage point from a year ago. Also on the rise is the share of women in technical roles — from 18.5 percent a year ago to 19.9 percent — and in leadership positions, from 18.8 percent a year ago to 19.7 percent.
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