VentureCapital.Org

WeROC

Women Entrepreneurs Realizing Opportunities for Capital

VCO prioritizes its programs on empowering women and diverse founders with education, mentorship, networks, and access to capital to continue their path towards success. We launched Women Entrepreneurs Realizing Opportunities for Capital (WeROC) in 2017. WeROC is a women-focused entrepreneurship program that helps women gain access to capital, provides them with startup business education, networking opportunities to venture capitalists, and one-on-one mentorship. Along with the tools needed to succeed in their startups. Women-led startups deliver twice as much per dollar invested vs those founded by men (78% per dollar versus 31%) but receive only about 2.8% of all venture funding despite owning 38% of the businesses in the country. VentureCapital.Org launched WeROC to address these disparities.

To date, the program has empowered more than 50 women-owned and operated businesses and utilized a nationwide network of approximately 500 mentors. Only 2.8% of investment capital awarded in 2018 went to women-founded or women-led companies. We look to radically change that by fueling, promoting, and empowering women-led companies.

Our WeROC Program
 
 

WeROC

Pitchbook research shows that only 2% of all venture dollars are allocated to startups owned and led by women. Women founded companies in First Round Capital's portfolio outperformed companies founded by men by 63%.

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More Capital Efficient

Private technology companies led by women are MORE capital-efficient, achieving 35% HIGHER return on investment (ROI), and - when VENTURE-BACKED - 12% HIGHER revenue than startups run by men, according to the Kauffman Foundation.

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Higher Returns

Research shows that greater diversity yields higher returns. Startups with a female founder generated 78 cents of revenue for every $1 of funding, while male-founded startups generated 31 cents, according to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study of 350 startups.

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WeROC

WeROC is a one-day event held yearly. It features several keynote speakers and panels who have recent experience overcoming access to capital and other road-blocks women-led/founded companies must overcome. The WeROC event targets female & male startups, influencers, and investors who have an interest in investing in women-led companies and women entrepreneurs looking to overcome the hurdles of raising equity for their startups.

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WeROC’s Deal Forum®

WeROC also includes a two-track Deal Forum® featuring 6-8 women-led startups that pitch to panel of active angel and venture investors. The panels provide candid, direct feedback to help the startups refine their presentations and ultimately raise funds. Each startup has participated in 4-8 weeks of mentoring through the VentureCapital.org mentor program. The WeROC Conference ends with a networking reception where conference attendees are able to make new connections and discuss conference topics.

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