Chief, the US-based operator of a professional network for women, secured $100m yesterday in a series B round led by internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s growth equity arm, CapitalG.
The round valued the company at $1.1bn post-money and was filled out by GGV Capital, General Catalyst, Inspired Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, BoxGroup and Primary Venture Partners. Laela Sturdy, general partner at CapitalG, is joining its board of directors in conjunction with the round.
Founded in 2019, Chief operates a private network connecting a community of female executives and providing business insights and other forms of support. Its network consists of more than 12,000 executives across 8,500 companies, and has 60,000 people on its waitlist.
The proceeds from the round will be used to further develop the company’s community platform to improve the experience, including more personalisation tools and new products.
General Catalyst and Inspired Capital co-led Chief’s $25m series A round in 2019 following $3m in seed funding from BBG Ventures (since spun off by telecommunications company Verizon), BoxGroup, Accel, Flybridge Capital Partners, Primary Venture Partners, Silas Capital and XFactor Ventures the previous year.
Chief’s co-founder and chief executive, Carolyn Childers, said: “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.
“We are 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 affect when they are at the helm.”
Photo courtesy of Chief.
