AED Partners with Citrine Angels to Increase Opportunities and Access
February 8, 2024 | By MEDIA CONTACT: Destiny Esper, 703-228-0854, desper@arlingtonva.us
ARLINGTON, Va. — Today, Arlington Economic Development (AED) announced a partnership with Citrine Angels, the largest female-focused angel investing organization in the mid-Atlantic region pledged solely to the support of women-led ventures. With a shared goal to boost female-led entrepreneurship and startup activity in Arlington, AED and Citrine Angels are launching the Elevate Your Venture: Arlington Female Founder Series, which will include four free educational events designed to tackle the unique challenges facing entrepreneurs today.
This series and partnership aims to support and positively impact businesses throughout the County, and help to counteract inequities and lack of access to capital more commonly experienced by women entrepreneurs and business leaders. It is being powered by the Arlington Innovation Fund, which also provides grant funding for startups to accelerate entrepreneurial growth.
“While Arlington was named the Best City for Women in Tech in 2021 and 2022 by SmartAsset, there remains additional work to increase opportunities for founders,” Michael Stiefvater, Director, Business Investment Group said. “According to a recent Pitchbook report, women founders received only two percent of total capital in 2022 — the data shows that partnerships and series of this nature are essential to businesses and Arlington Economic Development is committed to providing high-level resources via organizations like Citrine Angels.”
“Citrine Angels and Arlington Economic Development share a common goal to support the growth and success of female-founded businesses and increase access to investment opportunities for and by women,” Stephanie Marshall, co-founder and Board president, Citrine Angels said. “Programs like the upcoming series are vital to the community as they educate and connect like-minded groups. We look forward to working together to build and support the community and encourage others to join us.”
The Elevate Your Venture: Arlington Female Founder Series launches March 5, 2024 with its first event: “Is Venture Capital Right For You?” This event, sponsored by AED and powered by Citrine Angels, will feature discussions on whether startup companies should pursue venture capital or alternative funding methods. Additional events tentatively slated for upcoming months and topics are as follows:
- What Does It Mean to Be Venture Ready? – May 2024
- Building Your Startup Dream Team – September 2024
- Deciphering the DMV Innovation Ecosystem – November 2024
For more information on the Elevate Your Venture: Arlington Female Founder Series and to register for the kick-off event, please visit bit.ly/CitrineAngels. For startups interested in learning more and applying for the Arlington Innovation Fund grant, visit www.arlingtoneconomicdevelopment.com/aif.