Today is International Women’s Day! It’s celebrated worldwide every year on March 8th to show respect and appreciation toward women, and celebrate women’s economic, political, and social achievements. Since our focus is startups, I want to call your attention to two successful women entrepreneurs in our region.

Dr. Pam Marrone founded Marrone Bio (Davis) and took it public in 2013. Prior to founding Marrone Bio, Pam founded two other agtech companies, AgraQuest and Entotech. In 2020, she was awarded “The Most Admired CEO, Distinguished Career Award” by the Sacramento Business Journal. Learn more about Pam here.

Cate Dyer founded StemExpress (Placerville) in 2010, armed with only $9,000 and a vision to accelerate the cure and prevention of significant medical conditions at life-changing speed. in 2021, the Metro Chamber named her “Businesswoman of the Year.” Learn more about Cate here.

In other news, I just learned about MIT Solve’s 2021 Global Challenges. The Challenges connect social entrepreneurs with the funding and resources they need to drive social impact and solve global challenges. Anyone, anywhere can submit a solution to any of this year’s five Global Challenges and apply to access the more than $1.5 million in funding by June 16. The challenges include: Antiracist Technology in the US; Digital Inclusion; Equitable Classrooms; Health Security & Pandemics; and Resilient Ecosystems. Learn more here.

This Week’s Best Bets

International Women’s Day North America Summit, Mar 12-13: This event will bring together thriving women in tech and allies for two days of keynote speakers, inspirational talks, and technical content from all over the world. We invite you to join us to hear about Google Cloud, AI, Android, and Web technologies—all through the lens of what it means to be a woman in tech today.

Investing in Women Entrepreneurs, Thu Mar 11 at 8 AM: Panel and roundtable discussion on opportunities to support women entrepreneurs and close the gap of capital invested in women-led startups.

There’s a lot more going on the next couple of weeks – check out all the details in this week’s Startup Digest. And for more startup resources, browse the StartupSac website.

Looking to connect with other founders? Find your peers when you join the StartupSac Community Facebook Group. Startup founders and those who support the growth of our startup community connect and exchange ideas in this private moderated group.

Find an Advisor with Mentor Sacramento: Mentor Sacramento is a free online business mentoring platform that connects early stage startup founders and small business owners to volunteer business mentors. Learn more here.