I 7 Women That Took Their Companies Public In 2021

Markets

7 Women That Took Their Companies Public In 2021

Despite economic uncertainty, favorable market conditions throughout 2021 led to an increased appetite for companies entering public markets. Meet the women that have successfully taken their company public over the last year.

Whitney Wolfe Herd

Whitney Wolfe Herd

Company: Bumble IPO valuation: $4.9 billion In February 2021, dating app Bumble made its 32-year-old cofounder Wolfe Herd, the youngest woman to take a company public. Wolfe Herd, who owns a 21% stake in Bumble, became the youngest self-made woman billionaire after going public on Nasdaq in the same month. At the time of writing, she was no longer a billionaire. The startup was the second big dating app to go public after Match Group’s 2015 debut. Bumble was established in 2014 by Wolfe Herd and Andrey Andreev as a social network designed around women, which eventually transformed into a dating app where only women can make the first move. Andreev exited the company in November 2019.

Heather Hasson and Trina Spear

Company: FIGS IPO valuation: $3.5 billion In May 2021, direct-toconsumer healthcare apparel maker FIGS became the first company founded by two women to go public. It was founded by fashionindustry alum Hasson and Blackstone associate Spear in 2013. Figs reported $263 million in revenues in 2020, double the $110.5 million it reported in 2019. The trendy scrubs company was also the first IPO that retail investors could buy through Robinhood’s new IPO Access offering. According to Bloomberg, Robinhood approached the company for the partnership, and Figs did not have to pay to use Robinhood as a sales channel for the IPO. The startup is backed by billionaire Thomas Tull’s namesake investment firm.

Caryn Seidman-Becker

Company: Clear Secure IPO valuation: $4.5 billion Biometric screening firm Clear Secure made its public market debut in June 2021 on the New York Stock Exchange. Seidman-Becker, cofounder, chairwoman, and CEO of Clear Secure, established the startup in 2010 to create smooth travel experiences with added security. Airports, its largest member acquisition channel, drove 72% of new subscriptions in 2020 and 62% in 2019. Introducing initiatives like a Health Pass boosted the New York-based firm’s revenues in 2020 to $230.8 million, up 20% over 2019.

Anne Wojcicki

Company: 23andMe Post-merger valuation: $3.5 billion In June, cofounder and CEO Wojcicki took genetic testing firm 23andME public on Nasdaq via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) VG Acquisition Corp, founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. The move made Wojcicki the first woman to attain billionaire status as a result of a SPAC merger. At the time of writing, she was no longer a billionaire. A former Wall Street analyst, Wojcicki teamed up with cofounder Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza to start 23andME in 2006. The business began selling DNA test kits for which customers spit their saliva into a plastic tube and mail it in; in return, they get information about their ancestry and their health risks.

Jennifer Hyman and Jenny Fleiss

Company: Rent The Runway IPO valuation: $1.3 billion New York City-based online preloved clothing platform Rent The Runway (RTR) went public in October 2021 on Nasdaq, making history as the first firm to go public with a female founder-CEO, COO, and CFO. Cofounders Hyman and Fleiss met as MBA students at Harvard Business School in 2007. RTR, which was founded in 2009, was launched with the idea of offering designer clothing for rent at a fraction of its purchasing price. Although Fleiss left the company in 2017, she still holds just under a 1% stake in RTR, worth an estimated $12 million. In June 2021, the company expanded into resale, foregoing memberships to broaden its reach. Its resale option allows customers to buy pre-owned designer clothing.