Women Founders Still Lead Nearly One in Four PurposeBuilt100™ Companies
Women founder-CEOs represent 24% of the inaugural list—more than twice the percentage of Fortune 500 companies led by women—despite persistent barriers to capital
One of the most striking findings from the inaugural PurposeBuilt100™ has nothing to do with which company finished first—or where any individual company appears in the final ranking.
Twenty-four of the 100 companies recognized on the list are still led by women who helped found them.
To qualify for this group, a company had to satisfy two distinct tests: a woman must currently occupy its top executive role, typically as CEO, and that same woman must have been a genuine member of the company’s founding team.
Women founder-executives therefore lead 24% of the PurposeBuilt100.
By comparison, 55 women lead Fortune 500 companies in 2026, representing just 11% of America’s largest companies by revenue.
Of course, the two lists represent dramatically different populations and are not directly comparable. The Fortune 500 consists of the country’s largest companies, while the PurposeBuilt100 recognizes businesses of varying sizes selected from the purpose-driven economy.
The PurposeBuilt100 standard is also narrower. Our 24% figure counts only women who both helped found their companies and remain their top executives. The Fortune 500 figure includes all women CEOs, regardless of whether they founded the business.
Still, the contrast highlights the prominent role women founders play in building and scaling purpose-driven companies.
We did not give companies additional credit for being founded or led by women. Companies qualified because of their social or environmental impact, and they were ranked on revenue growth.
The fact that nearly one-quarter are still led by women who helped create them emerged organically from the results.
These women didn’t simply launch promising businesses. They remained in command as those businesses grew.
The finding is especially notable in the context of the persistent capital gap facing women entrepreneurs. PitchBook reported that companies founded solely by women received just 1.9% of all capital invested in U.S. venture-backed startups in 2024.
That statistic measures all-women founding teams and therefore does not precisely describe every company among the 24 PurposeBuilt100 winners. Some may have mixed-gender founding teams.
It nevertheless illustrates the broader fundraising environment in which women founders frequently build their companies.
Purpose and Growth Reinforce Each Other
The 24 women founder-executives represent businesses operating across food, healthcare, environmental technology, professional services, education, apparel, financial management, hospitality and other sectors.
Among them is Lisa Curtis, founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli, a company that has helped introduce moringa-based foods to American consumers while creating economic opportunities through its global supply chain.
Curtis said:
“Women founders are often told—directly or indirectly—that they must choose between building a commercially successful company and pursuing a meaningful social mission. Our experience at Kuli Kuli demonstrates that purpose can be an engine for growth. When a company creates value for its customers, its partners and the communities connected to its supply chain, impact and business success can reinforce one another.”
Danielle Godfrey, founder and CEO of SetApart Accountancy, demonstrates that purpose-driven growth is not limited to consumer products or environmental technologies.
Her firm represents the professional-services companies helping mission-oriented organizations build durable operational and financial foundations.
Godfrey said:
“Founders should not have to abandon their values—or surrender their leadership—to build disciplined, scalable companies. Strong financial systems, accountable leadership and a clear sense of purpose belong together. I’m proud to be recognized alongside women who are proving that companies can grow while remaining deeply grounded in why they were created.”
The combination of founding, leadership and demonstrated growth makes this group especially meaningful to me.
There are many ways women contribute to building successful companies—as founders, executives, investors, directors and successors.
This particular finding recognizes something unusually demanding: women who helped conceive their businesses, endured the difficult early stages and remain in the top executive seat as the companies achieve meaningful scale.
The 24 PurposeBuilt100 Companies Still Led by Women Founders
The following companies are listed alphabetically. Their placement here provides no indication of their position in the PurposeBuilt100:
29Bison — Laura Kellers Queen
AnaOno — Dana Donofree
Aquacycl — Orianna Bretschger
BabyQuip — Frances Maier
Bamboo Services/My Panda — Tamara Lucas
Caladrius Therapy — Jessie Ogienko
Coje Consultants — Jennifer Powell
FIGS — Trina Spear
GGirls Closet — Patricia Gillmore
Health Care Originals — Sharon Samjitsingh
Holidaily Brewing — Karen Hertz
Instant Teams — Liza Rodewald
Jiminy’s — Anne Carlson
JSDA — Janice Stevenor Dale
Kuli Kuli — Lisa Curtis
Mission Enrollment Strategy Solutions — Alisa Evans
Momentum Coffee — Nikki Bravo
Poetry vs. Hip-Hop Productions — Queen Sheba
Redwood Literacy — Kait Feriante
SetApart Accountancy — Danielle Godfrey
Strata Project Management Group — Amy Johnson
Tampon Tribe — Jennifer Eden
Transparent Health Group — Betty Heiman
WISE Advise + Assist Team — Diana Jaquith
Four additional PurposeBuilt100 companies have a woman founder or a woman CEO, but the current top executive is not a founder: Bio Essence, Revalue, Sunrun and The Honest Company.
Together, the two groups mean that nearly three in ten PurposeBuilt100 companies have a woman founder who serves as the top executive or a woman serving as CEO today.
Qualified by Impact, Ranked by Growth
PurposeBuilt100 is a national recognition program for fast-growing, purpose-driven companies in the United States.
Thousands of companies were screened and considered. The 100 fastest-growing qualifying companies were ranked by growth rate.
Gender was not a factor in either eligibility or the growth ranking.
That is important.
The representation of women on the list wasn’t engineered. It wasn’t the result of a quota or a separate scoring category. It emerged after we screened companies for impact and measured their growth.
Every company named to the PurposeBuilt100 is a winner. The complete ranking will be revealed during the PurposeBuilt100 Showcase on the final day of SuperCrowd26, our three-day televised event taking place August 25–27, 2026.
The event will bring together founders, investors and impact-economy leaders for discussions focused on capital, community and credible business growth.
Programming will be distributed through SuperCrowd.tv and the e360tv network, including connected-TV platforms such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
The event’s central theme, “Impact Scales,” reflects the premise demonstrated by the PurposeBuilt100: companies created to address social and environmental challenges can also build durable businesses and achieve substantial growth.
These 24 women—and the companies they continue to lead—offer powerful evidence.
Learn more about the recognition program at PurposeBuilt100.com.
Learn more about the August 25–27 event at SuperCrowd26.com.
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