Our doors are always open
Female founders can apply for HearstLab investment anytime (up to $1M) throughout the year. Beyond our standard investment process, we also offer pitch events throughout the year for earlier stage, smaller funding opportunities. Not sure where to start? Reach out and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Investment Criteria
What’s In It For You
As a mission-driven Lab backed by Hearst (vs. traditional venture or incubator), we’re uniquely positioned to take a longer term view in helping founders build sustainable and profitable businesses.
Beyond capital, we provide…
- Access to diverse hands-on support & services
- Access to exclusive female-only community of founders
- Access to the Hearst network, including office space at the Hearst Tower in NYC
At HearstLab, we treat everyone equally–but not the same.
Our core support & services* include…
Business Development
Warm intros and exclusive networking opportunities, ICP analysis and campaign strategic planning, win/loss analyses
Data and Operations
No/low code automation and process improvement, initial machine learning modeling, data strategy, database audits
Product and Engineering
DevOps, architecture and code review, team talent and development, product roadmap
Finance
Financial modeling and projections, scenario planning, pricing, unit economics tracking and analysis
Fundraising
Data room review, warm investor intros, pitch practice and feedback
Legal
Access to Hearst’s world-class legal team including expertise across labor, corporate M&A, trademark, litigation, and more
Marketing
Graphic design, branding, copywriting, social media, PR
UI and UX
Wireframing, product and website design, user testing, feedback and analytics
* Limited to US-based companies only. International companies will be provided with support services adapted to each location.