Accelerating Angels closes 2 Million Dollar Fund for Women Founders

Investment Platform, Accelerating Angels, has successfully concluded its first fund, $2 million in committed capital, focused on funding high-growth women-led startups. The angel investment group and fund in Columbus assembled 46 investors for its first close to further its goal of investing in female founders at an early stage.

Accelerating Angels was founded in 2022 by Mary McCarthy and Cindi Englefield, to help rectify the ever-present challenge for women entrepreneurs in the United States of getting funding. Research by Boston Consulting Group and First Round Capital shows that despite funding less than 2% of VC investment dollars, female entrepreneurs are still outperforming men in terms of revenue and investment return.

The female-led investment platform pivots around supporting scalable, female-led businesses as well as strengthening the ecosystem for founders and investors. The company has already invested in eight startups and expects to increase its number of investments in Fund I to 12-15. Accelerating Angels also has plans to launch a bigger Fund II, where it will be able to write larger investment checks as the company expands.

"The performance data has been clear for a long time. What's been missing is the infrastructure to act on it," said Cindi Englefield, Co-Founder of Accelerating Angels. "We built Accelerating Angels to be that infrastructure in Ohio — a fund, an investor community, and a foundation working to move capital to founders who have been overlooked."

The founders extended the reach of the program in 2024 by establishing the Accelerating Angels Foundation as a non-profit organization to support the preparation of female founders to raise capital and educate and train new angel investors through specific programs and workshops.

Key Highlights:

• Accelerating Angels closed its first $2M fund to back women-led startups
• Founded by Mary McCarthy and Cindi Englefield, the platform supports female entrepreneurs and investors
• The firm has invested in eight startups and is preparing a larger Fund II

Unlike standard angel groups, the organization is developing both the investor and the founder communities. Accredited and non-accredited investors are welcome to join the club, with the goal of expanding the ranks of angel investors in Ohio outside their traditional circles. The fund’s investor base consists of experienced angel investors, and first-time investors who have been educated on the program through the foundation.

The angel process hasn't been seen by many women, Englefield said. After they do, after they see how things work together, once they see what backing in the early stages entails, then they feel like they are in the room.

Englefield also noted that the companies in the portfolio are led by experienced entrepreneurs with strong teams who have high growth potential and are supported by the platform.

Mary McCarthy, Co-Founder of Accelerating Angels, called the successful first close an important step in the overall push to grow investments in women-owned enterprises. By investing in women-led companies, we are not only making smart investment decisions, we are also helping to fuel innovation,” said McCarthy. “It's just the beginning of a much bigger movement we believe we're going to see,” said "This is just the beginning"

In the near-term, Accelerating Angels will continue to deploy Fund I capital and will be preparing for Fund II. In addition, the founders are seeking to increase the ties between women entrepreneurs and the local capital networks, thereby assisting Ohio-based startups in scaling up and finding capital from within the state instead of bothering other states.