Introducing UnHacked+

A program to provide fundraising support to women-led startups

Startups led by women are not raising capital.

That’s it. And it is no longer news.

Only 14.4% of Venture Capital Funding went to female founders in the US despite it being an “explosive year” for Venture Capital. That figure is much lower for African female founders. For instance, only 10% of west Africa-focused startups with at least one female co-founder has successfully raised $1 million or more in the last decade.

The underrepresentation of women in the list of venture-backed startups hits closer home when we look at our client list. Of course it makes sense that only startups who have the funding can afford proper legal advice.

As people, this does not sit right with us especially as an all-women law firm (for now 🙂).

What is even more jarring is when startups led by women eventually come to us, it is not uncommon that they are coming because they have already signed a bad deal – which could have altogether been avoided with the proper legal guidance.

This situation is uncomfortable so we have decided to do something about it.

We will like to introduce you to UnHacked +.

Last year, we ran a pitch competition called UnHacked for women-led startups where we gave out cash and free legal advisory to the winners. You can read about it here.

We have now decided to build on this pitch competition by creating a program to provide all-year round fundraising, strategic and legal support to women-led startups.

As a law firm focused on the tech industry, we are uniquely placed to be connectors. We know a lot of people and we are at least one introduction away from those we should know and do not yet know. We will use this unique positioning to help female founders get access to the rooms they need access to in other to raise capital for their companies.

We are proud to be one of the first law firms in the world to create something like this (we would love to see other law firms create similar programs!)

So how exactly will UnHacked+ work?

Every year, we will admit a certain number of founders under our UnHacked+ program where they will get access to:

1. Low-bono legal advisory
2. Access to our investor networks
3. Workshops on negotiating with investors
4. Introduction to strategic partners
5. Opportunities for visibility (yes those panels are important for Positioning which is important for Fundraising)

We’ve partnered with Tiphub Captial to provide office hours and access to community perks valued at $50,000. We are also actively working on partnerships to provide discounted Public Relations services, financial advisory and technical capacity building to startups led by women.

If you will like to keep informed about the program, please let us know here. We are excited to announce this and look forward to helping our ecosystem grow in the right direction.

With 💙 from all of us at Vazi Legal.