By Angie Chang, Girl Geek CEO & Founder
These visionary women aren’t just launching startups — they’re building well-capitalized companies shaping the future of AI, cybersecurity, climate and health tech. Backed by billions in funding and ambitious growth roadmaps, many of these companies are scaling rapidly and opening new roles across engineering, product, and leadership.
Together, they form a powerful force driving innovation at scale. Celebrate female founders leading the charge, from building next-generation AI companies to protecting our digital world and designing sustainable solutions for everything from health to climate — building the products, platforms, and solutions shaping our collective future.
We highlight 30 visionary Women to Watch in 2025 helming startups tackling some of humanity’s most complex challenges and inspiring the next generation of innovative companies leading AI, cybersecurity, health tech, climate / energy, and even more forward-looking industries!
#1 — Alexandra Rasch Castillo — Caban CEO & Founder
Intelligent energy storage provider Caban, led by CEO Alexandra Rasch Castillo, deploys Energy-as-a-Service solutions for customers across Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Caban has raised $50 million in funding in 2025, bringing the total funding raised to $86 million. Caban is headquartered in Burlingame, California.
#2 — Christina Cacioppo — Vanta CEO & Founder
Trust and compliance management leader Vanta is led by CEO and co-founder Christina Cacioppo. Vanta has raised $150 million in Series D funding in 2025, bringing the total funding raised to $500 million. Vanta is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#3 — Christine Yen — Honeycomb CEO & Founder
The observability platform Honeycomb.io, led by co-founders CEO Christine Yen and CTO Charity Majors, is built by a team passionate about technology to augment what humans bring to an investigation, not replace them. Honeycomb has raised $50 million Series D funding in 2023, bringing the total funding raised to just under $150 million. Honeycomb is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#4 — Cristina Junqueira — Nubank CGO & Founder
Co-founded by Cristina Junqueira, Nu is fostering access to financial services across Latin America. Nu is one of the world’s largest digital banking platforms, serving more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Nu is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.
#5 — Daniela Amode — Anthropic President & Founder
Co-founder and President Daniela Amode is leading Anthropic, an AI safety and research company. The company raised $11.8 billion in funding in 2024, one of the most well-capitalized AI startups in the world. Anthropic is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#6 – Davida Herzl – Aclima CEO & Founder
Led by Latina founder Davida Herzl, public benefit corporation Aclima translates billions of scientific measurements into analytics for companies, governments, and communities to reduce emissions, improve public health, and deliver clean air for all. Aclima has raised over $100 million in funding, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#7 — Edith Harbough — LaunchDarkly CEO & Founder
Scalable feature management platform LaunchDarkly is led by co-founder Edith Harbough. She co-authored “Operating Continuously” which was published by O’Reilly Media in 2023. LaunchDarkly has raised $200 million in Series D venture funding in 2021, bringing the total raised to $330 million. LaunchDarkly is headquartered in Oakland, California.
#8 — Emily Long — Edera CEO & Founder
Workload isolation tech startup Edera, led by CEO and co-founder Emily Long, addresses a universal security problem for cloud infrastructure, according to WIRED. The company has raised $15 million in Series A venture funding in 2025, bringing the total raised to $20 million. Edera is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
#9 — Fei-Fei Li — World Labs CEO & Founder
“Grandmother of AI” Fei-Fei Li co-founded and leads World Labs, a spatial intelligence company developing “large world models” for professionals (artists, designers, developers, and engineers). World Labs has raised over $230 million in funding in 2024. World Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#10 — Iman Abuzeid — Incredible Health CEO & Founder
The first-and-only platform to focus on permanent employees rather than contractors, Incredible Health, led by Iman Abuzeid, used by 1500 hospitals, surgery centers, and home health orgs nationwide, and over 1 million nurses and technicians in the Untied States. Incredible Health has raised $80 million in Series B funding in 2022, bringing the total raise to $97.3 million. Incredible Health is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#11 — Janice Chen — Mammoth Biosciences CTO & Founder
Co-founded by CRISPR pioneer and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, Mammoth Biosciences is technically led by CTO Janice Chen. Mammoth Biosciences is building out a pipeline of therapeutics, and raised over $150 million in Series D funding in 2021, bringing the total financing to $195 million. Mammoth Biosciences is headquartered in Brisbane, California.
#12 — Judy Faulkner — Epic Systems CEO & Founder
Healthcare software company Epic is founded by mathematician Judy Faulkner. Epic hires smart and motivated people from all academic majors to code, test, and implement healthcare software that hundreds of millions of patients and doctors rely on. Epic has 42% of the acute care EHR market share, never took venture capital, and is headquartered in Verona, Wisconsin.
#13 — Kanjun Qiu — Imbue CEO & Founder
Led by co-founder Kanjun Qiu, Imbue empowers humans in an age of AI by creating powerful computing tools for people, making reliable software creation accessible to all. Imbue has raised over $200 million in venture funding, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#14 — Kate Ryder — Maven Clinic CEO & Founder
The largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, Maven Clinic is helmed by CEO Kate Ryder. Over 2,000 employers and health plans trust Maven’s end-to-end platform to improve clinical outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and provide equity in benefits programs. Maven Clinic has raised $125 million Series F funding in 2024, and is headquartered in New York, New York.
#15 — Katherine Kostereva — Creatio CEO & Founder
Led by founder Katherine Kostereva, Creatio is an AI-native no-code platform for industry workflows and CRM. Creatio raised $200 million in funding in 2024 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
#16 — Kristen Fortney — BioAge CEO & Founder
A clinical-stage biotech company, BioAge is developing a pipeline of treatments that treat age-related diseases. Led by CEO and co-founder Kristen Fortney, BioAge has raised over $170 million in Series D funding in 2024, and went public in 2024. BIoAge is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
#17 — Magi Richani — Alpine Bio CEO & Founder
Alpine Bio makes molecular farming the third pillar of biomanufacturing. Led by founder Magi Richani, the company will bring their non-animal mozzarella cheese to market via Nobell Foods. Alpine Bio has raised $75 million Series B funding in 2021 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#18— Martha Bitar — Flodesk CEO & Founder
Email marketing platform Flodesk helps small business owners create beautiful emails. Co-founded by Martha Bitar, Flodesk is a bootstrapped startup and headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#19 — May Habib — Writer AI CEO & Founder
GenAI platform for the enterprise Writer is helmed by CEO May Habib. Writer has raised $200 million in Series C funding in 2024, bringing the total raised to $326 million. Writer is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#20 — Melanie Perkins — Canva CEO & Founder
Global design platform Canva is led by CEO Melanie Perkins. Canva has raised $200 million Series F funding in 2021, bringing the total funding raised to around $589 million. Canva is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
#21 — Michelle Zatlyn — Cloudflare President & Founder
Co-founded by President Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare is a Internet safety and security company helping build a better Internet. Cloudflare has raised over $332 million in funding before going public in 2019, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#22 — Mira Murati — Thinking Machines Lab CEO & Founder
Formerly CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati leads Thinking Machines Lab to develop next-gen multimodal AI systems with the ambitious goal of achieving human–machine collaborative intelligence. Thinking Machines Lab raised a $2 billion seed round, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#23 — Molly He — Element Biosciences CEO & Founder
Democratizing access to affordable, high-quality genomic sequencing, Element Biosciences is led by CEO Molly He. Element Biosciences has raised over $277 million in Series D investment in 2024. Element Biosciences is headquartered in San Diego, California.
#24 — Raquel Urtasun — Waabi CEO & Founder
Physical AI that begins with autonomous trucks, Waabi is led by CEO Raquel Urtasun. Waabi has raised $200 million in Series B funding in 2024, bringing the total raised to over $280 million. Waabi is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
#25 — Ritu Narayan — Zūm CEO & Founder
Reimagined student transportation company Zūm is led by CEO Ritu Narayan to serve over 4000 schools and districts. Zūm raised $140 million Series E funding round in 2024, bringing the total raised to $350 million. Zūm is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
#26 — Sheila Lirio Marcelo — Ohai CEO & Founder
Formerly the founder of Care.com, Sheila Lirio Marcelo continues her goal of lifting the invisible mental load of caregiving and unlocking real economic impact with Ohai. She talks to Forbes about scaling impact and Inc about invisible labor. Ohai has raised over $6 million in funding, and is headquartered in Pembroke, Massachusetts.
#27 — Sonia Kastner — Pano AI CEO & Founder
Wildfire detection tech for governments, utilities, and customers, Sonia Kastner leads Pano AI. The full-stack solution is deployed across dozens of states in the United States, Australia, and Canada to monitor over 30 million acres of land for wildfire. Pano AI raised $44 million in a Series B funding round in 2025, and I is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
#28 — Therese Tucker — BlackLine CEO & Founder
Enterprise software company BlackLine develops cloud-based services is founded by Therese Tucker. BlackLine had no outside funding until 2013 when a private equity firm invested over $200 million in the company, and then BlackLine went public in 2016. BlackLine is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
#29 — Toyin Ajayi — Cityblock Health CEO & Founder
Toyin Ajayi is building Cityblock Health for people living in lower-income neighborhoods, transforming the way that health services are delivered in previously underserved communities across the United States. Cityblock Health has raised $400 million in 2021, bringing the total fundraise to almost $900 million in venture capital funding. Cityblock Health is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
#30 — Whitney Wolfe Herd — Bumble CEO & Founder
A dating app that emphasizes women making the first move, Bumble is led by Whitney Wolfe Herd in an entrepreneurial story that will be told by Hulu’s SWIPED movie starring Lily James as the billionaire female entrepreneur. Bumble went public in 2021 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
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