Skip to main content

Home  »  News StoriesSpotlightUS business newsUS Employment News   »   International Women’s Day 2023: Billion-dollar businesses you didn’t know were run by women

International Women’s Day 2023: Billion-dollar businesses you didn’t know were run by women

Whitney Wolfe Herd - CEO of Bumble

Whitney Wolfe Herd - CEO of Bumble

In the last few years, we've seen a significant increase in women-owned businesses in the US.

Over 11.6 million American companies are owned by women, creating $1.7 trillion in sales.

However, only a tiny portion of these businesses have become billion-dollar companies. 

From genetic testing kits to dating apps, these are women-owned businesses that soared to the top of their fields, earning billions.

READ MORE: "THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO NEVER TUMBLE ARE THOSE WHO NEVER MOUNT THE HIGH WIRE" – OPRAH WINFREY

Bumble

Whitney Wolfe Herd (pictured) began her booming career in dating apps when she became vice president and co-founder of marketing at Tinder.

But things turned sour when she filed a lawsuit against her chief for sexual harassment, which meant she had no choice but to leave the company.

He was fired for his alleged actions and the case was settled out of court.

After Tinder, Whitney chose to compete against her ex-employer and came up with a new dating app.

With help from Andrey Andreev, Badoo founder, she created Bumble, which gives women the chance to make the first move after matching. 

Whitney is still the CEO of Bumble, which is now worth $1 billion and has 35 million users. 

CreditKarma

In 2007, Nichole Mustard was requested to join a joint project with Kenneth Lin and Ryan Graciano.

Together, they had an idea to build a company where people could view their credit scores for free.

CreditKarma was launched in 2008, and two years later, the company gained one million members. 

Today, Nichole is the company's chief revenue officer, which now has a net worth of $4 billion. 

The firm has given free credit scores to around four billion members. 

Rent the Runway

In 2008, Jennifer Hyman came up with the idea to start a company where women could rent designer clothes after her sister had to pay $2,000 for a dress when attending a wedding.

Jennifer paired up with Jennifer Fleiss to begin the business, which started on the Harvard campus.

Rent the Runway was launched in 2009, giving women access to designer clothing for less money. 

The business has a value of $1 billion and continues to intimidate traditional retail stores. 

23andMe

Anne Wojcicki launched 23andMe in 2006 with the help of Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza.

The company was designed to test the possibility that you will obtain certain diseases, including cancer and even motion sickness.

When it first launched, the genetic testing kit cost $999.

The company is now worth $2.5 billion and has had more than 10 million customers. 

Spanx 

Sara Blakely was getting ready for a night out in the '90s when she decided to cut the feet out of her pantyhose.

This inspired her to create a pantyhose business that was comfortable for women.

Spanx was launched in 2000.

In 2012, Sara was named the youngest female self-made billionaire, and today, the company is worth $1 billion.

Follow us on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook

Tags:
Tinder