Chief, a NYC-based private network to bring women to positions of power and keep them there, closed a $22m Series A funding round.
The round was co-led by General Catalyst and Inspired Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Ken Chenault, chairman and a managing director of General Catalyst, and Alexa von Tobel, founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital, will join Chief’s board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its digital platform and pursue rapid geographic expansion.
Co-founded by Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan, Chief is a private network for senior women leaders — rising VP level through CEO — to strengthen their journey into the C-suite, across several industries. Since its recent launch in January, Chief’s membership has grown to more than 700 women executives in New York, representing more than 500 companies. The majority of members are sponsored by their companies to support leadership development, including HBO, Walmart, LVMH, Sotheby’s, JetBlue, Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, IDEO, Hulu, SoulCycle, PepsiCo, Verizon, Omnicom, Chobani, UNICEF, Instagram and Google.
Chief also has a waitlist of thousands of women from across the country.
In October 2018, Chief had raised $3m in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $25m. Previous investors include Primary Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, Accel, BoxGroup, Able Partners, Silas Capital and XFactor Ventures.
FinSMEs
25/06/2019