Last year, female founders received 2.2 percent of the $130 billion in venture money invested in the United States, according to PitchBook and All Raise. That works out to $2.9 billion; for a sense of scale, a single startup, Katerra — which is in the construction business — raised $865 million last year, or about 30 percent of everything that went to female founders. 

The main barrier facing women-led startups today is not more tools or training, but a straight up need for capital. So what would Chicago's startup scene look like if more women controlled the money? What is it like for female entrepreneurs in Chicago, particularly ones building products for women? What is needed to make capital more equitable? 

We'll hear from a panel of women entrepreneurs who've built businesses for women: Thank God It's Natural founder Chris-Tia Donaldson; PartySlate CEO Julie Roth Novack; The Mom Project CEO Allison Robinson; and Founder & CEO Glam ST Agustina Sartori. Moderating will be Coco Meers, the co-founder of Equilibria and the founder of Pretty Quick, which she sold to Groupon.

The value of tech investments in business has fluctuated as companies are faced with new and competing priorities, the tides of public opinion, and emerging technology trends. A number of recent developments are making waves for top leaders and their fiscal decision-making. Just this year, the Business Roundtable made headlines for redefining the mission of a corporation as serving not just its shareholders, but its “stakeholders” as well. The honeymoon period for tech giants seems to be at its end. The advent of disruptive technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will have an impact on workflow and unemployment.

With the myriad of changes confronting the tech landscape, how are tech investments perceived by decision makers? How do the perspectives of different C-Suite officers vary when it comes to tech spending and priorities in their own companies? Join us on December 5^th for a conversation on tech investments with Chicago’s business leaders.

After our program concludes, we invite you to stick around for a tour of mHUB Chicago -the Midwest’s 1^st innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing.

Join the Executives’ Club of Chicago as we welcome the "Queen of Las Vegas” for a frank conversation with one of our city's most successful businesswomen, Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments.