Women have come a long way in the professional world in recent decades, and on top of this, many have shaped the business world as we see it today. Currently, 74 women CEOs are in charge at the 500 highest-grossing companies in the U.S., according to Statista. While this is the highest record of such to date, there’s still quite a long way to go before women are equally represented at the table. Working to expedite this journey for women leaders across the country, Chief is expanding its network platform with a new round of funding.
Chief is a private network engineered to help more women reach higher positions in business. Founded by Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers in 2019, the platform is meant to offer a support system that can meet the specific needs of women in power. It announced on Thursday a Series B funding round led by CapitalG. With this round, Chief has reached a unicorn valuation of $1.1 billion.
Women in C-suite, senior executive and VP positions can join Chief’s membership-based platform to gain access to workshops, networking events, business insights and opportunities to strengthen their leadership and influence among a vetted community of peers. The company also offers experiences like hyper-curated peer groups facilitated by experienced executive coaches.
The company has evolved quickly in a relatively short span of time. When it first began, Chief members were able to meet up in the company’s clubhouse in Tribeca, but it shifted gears and launched a virtual network after the pandemic started. Active in cities including Chicago, Los Angles, Boston and D.C., Chief has grown its network nationwide and has a network of over 12,000 members from companies like Delta Air Lines, Netflix, NASA and Pfizer. Its waitlist is growing as well and lists 60,000 women from across the globe.
Chief will put its new funding toward adding more personalization features to its platform. The new tools will help members better connect with one another as well as grant them access to relevant business insights. It’s also doubling its grant program for underrepresented executives and committing $1 million annually to nonprofits that are working to change the face of leadership.
In addition to its capital raise, Chief also announced the appointment of Laela Sturdy, general partner at CapitalG, to its board of directors.
“Women have always been powerful, and our goal is to magnify and cross-pollinate that influence so women executives have a global network to support them,” Carolyn Childers, co-founder and CEO of Chief, said in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with CapitalG and welcome Laela to Chief’s board. Laela exemplifies the power of women as change makers for great businesses and is a champion of the transformative impact women can effect when they are at the helm.”
Chief is currently hiring for a range of roles across engineering, product, marketing, HR, revenue ops and other departments.
