Join us for Startup Happy Hour powered by StartupSac and the Carlsen Center for a panel discussion with FourthWave on seed funding.
For Startup Happy Hour this month StartupSac and the Carlsen Center are teaming up with FourthWave, an accelerator for high potential, women-led technology businesses. FourthWave is accepting applications for its next cohort now.
This event will feature a panel of female founders and will be moderated by Cheryl Beninga, cofounder of FourthWave. The focus of the discussion will be on raising pre-seed and seed funding. Seed funding relies heavily on relationship building and appealing to the goals of angel investors. Join us for an engaging discussion that will educate and enlighten all.
Panelists:
- Anna Straus – CEO, Sparck
- Fatma Kaplan – CEO, Pheronym
- Kate Duggento Cordell, PhD, MPH – CEO, Opeeka
Register Now
About the Startups
- Sparck is a personalized employee recognition and engagement platform.
- Pheronym is an Ag-biotech company that develops green solutions for agricultural pest control
- Opeeka enables success-focused care for mental health, behavioral health & social services.
About the Panelists
Anna Strauss is the co-founder and CEO Sparck. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in business management and is a certified leadership coach, trainer and speaker. She has over 15 years of business development, leadership, and talent strategy experience working with national and global clients. Anna was the recipient of the Female Founder Fellowship from Founder’s Institute in San Francisco in 2018 where she was recognized as a woman with the utmost potential to become a successful technology entrepreneur.
Fatma Kaplan, Ph.D. is the CEO, CSO and co-founder of Pheronym and an entrepreneur and accomplished scientist with experience in both biology and chemistry. Dr. Kaplan co-founded Pheronym to bring nematode pheromone technology to the market. she believes that nematode pheromone technology will provide effective, non-toxic pest control for farmers and gardeners. Dr. Kaplan has a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology and postdoctoral training in Natural Product Chemistry with a focus on isolating biologically active compounds. Dr. Kaplan discovered the first sex pheromone of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and published in Nature in 2008. Then she discovered that pheromones regulate other behaviors in both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. Dr. Kaplan conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in Space at the International Space Station in 2020. She has very high impact publications and her dissertation was cited in textbooks within 5 years of publication. Dr. Kaplan worked as a scientist at NASA, the National Magnetic Field Laboratory and the US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service.
Kate Cordell, Ph.D., M.P.H. is the CEO, CSO and co-founder of Opeeka. Dr. Cordell is a nationwide thought leader for behavioral health technology, integrating data systems to support a whole- person approach to care. She has built models for federal, state, county, healthcare provider and community-based agencies to convert behavioral health and social program data into decisions and decisions into positive outcomes. Dr. Cordell works to identify whether individuals and families are improving during care. She is especially interested in what works for whom. Every person and family have a story, often complex but also sewn with common thread. Dr. Cordell uses longitudinal analysis methods to model the changing patterns in these complex tapestries, hoping to identify common elements of design.
About the Moderator
Cheryl Beninga is a venture capital investor, board member and advisor for technology companies in strategy, financing and M&A for over twenty years. She has experience building high growth and adaptive learning organizations in clean technology, mobile software, medtech and enterprise software and services companies . She is the co-founder the FourthWave accelerator program for leading female founders, Managing Director of Beninga Advisors an advisory firm and is focused on building conscious and authentic rapid learning teams and cultures.
About FourthWave
FourthWave is an Accelerator for Women-Led Technology Businesses. They are changing the gender equity narrative through an economic lens: investing in women is one of the most effective ways to reduce inequality and increase economic growth. Applications for the next cohort open in June. Learn More.
