Astia’s mission is to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth.

The Astia method is designed for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs who understand the value of extraordinary relationships and believe in giving back.

• Astia connects entrepreneurs to serial entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and leading service providers creating a value-add network.
• Astia engages with startups for the full life-cycle of the company to ensure the long-term growth of the company and long-term viability of the women as leaders of these companies.
• Astia programming and services are provided by our staff and the global Astia Advisor Network of more than 1,200 professionals including 300 current and former C-level startup executives and over 200 investors.

Since 2003, we have worked with over 250 women-led companies that have:

• Rasied over $1 billion
• Maintained a greater than 60% funding success rate within one year of joining Astia
• Acheived 22 exits, including 2 IPOs
  

Astia companies are more successful due to the expertise and reach of the community.

Due to the breadth and depth of the community, Astia is able to focus on the three fundamental elements of success for high-growth startups:

1. access to capital
2. growth of the businesses, and
3. the leadership of the women on the founding team

Our community and programs deliver tangible results including:

• stronger business plans that attract funding
• tighter market analysis with clear go-to-market strategies
• stronger technology positioning
• management team expansion
• investment
• corporate governance enhancement
• IP protection and strategy development
  
• exit strategies and opportunities
• corporate partnerships and customer traction from introductions
• technical expertise to ensure scalability
• global growth strategies and market understanding

Astia is a connected global community dedicated to the success of women-led, high-growth ventures.

Astia’s mission is to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth.

The benefits are three fold:

1. For investors - higher returns where women are in leadership positions with men.
2. For society - half the population's talents can be fully realized (women are half of MBAs, half of PhDs, more than half of all college graduates - there is an abundant pool of talent on the ready).
   
3. For the economy - it means jobs. If women had the same access to capital as their male counterparts we would see 6 million jobs added to the economy in 5 years, 2 million in year-one alone [source: Babson College research]. This is the economic recovery we all seek. Seems a simple and inclusive solution.

• To benefit from access to a global community of experts that can shortcut their pathways to success
• To engage in critical peer-to-peer conversations as a part of a global portfolio
• To accelerate their growth and fundraising
• To build out their A-level team
• To gain executive leadership skills
• To access our vast investor, customer and entrepreneur networks
• To do it all in a supportive community dedicated to their success!
  

Primarily through referrals from Astia portfolio companies, serial entrepreneurs, angels, VCs, law firms, other service providers, our Advisor community, and others who know the value we provide.

All applicants to Astia are screened first online and then in-person by the community of industry experts. To be invited, a company is typically referred and must pass both screenings as well as engaged in a productive feedback session. 

If you wonder if you should apply, answer these questions:

1. Would my company benefit from direct feedback from a community of experienced industry leaders dedicated to the success of women-led high-growth companies?
2. Would I benefit from meeting other entrepreneurs, investors, and industry executives?

Consider applying now - and let's get started!

Not at all. All companies we work with have both women and men in their senior management teams. And our mentor teams are similarly diversified.

We invite VCs to review our companies, to speak on one of our many panels, to participate in workshops, and to attend our Venture Conference. We are fortunate that a number of VCs are actively engaged as members of our Mentor Network, Executive Council, Advisory Board and Champion Circle.

We do not provide offices. We work exclusively with companies we select in a highly selective process, whereas incubators typically work with companies that rent space.

In addition, we provide Astia Portfolio companies with unlimited professional expertise through our more than 1,100 member global Advisor Network.

We are able to attract successful professionals to be Astia Advisors because of:

• Our focus on women and their interest in investing in the next generation of women leaders
• The caliber of our companies and
  
• Because of the extremely efficient Advisor engagement model we have developed with extremely successful, busy people in mind.

Most mentoring organizations are focused on the individual. We are focused on the success of the whole company; advice and expertise is made available to all team members.

Astia Advisors are asked to provide guidance to drive to key business milestones that have been identified during the screening and selection process. Advisors work in teams to ensure broad as well as deep expertise. 

Astia works with companies on:

• Funding assistance
• Introductions to potential customers
• Business strategy review
• Team development
• Go-to market strageties
• Growth strategies
• Exit and acquisition strategies
  

Astia's Advisors are interviewed to ensure they are aligned with our mission and they work in teams to ensure breadth as well as depth of expertise. The Advisors also access their networks for our companies, and this enables us to have the right resources at the right time.

The Astia Investor Forums raises the profile of women-led companies and provides a platform that produces results for the investment community. Astia companies also present at other Forums to increase their exposure.

Astia is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that is generously supported by - and our offering for entrepreneurs is heavily subsidized by - committed individuals, foundations, and corporations. Most notably, in 2010 Astia received a $500,000 commitment from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

To see our full list of sponsors, visit our sponsor section of the website>>

To make your own donation in support of this work, click here>>

They are statistically less likely to be funded and thus, why we exist. The Astia community is focused on providing women entrepreneurs and women innovators with necessary access to business networks and opportunities to become dominant market players.

Women uniquely need:

Access to Networks - In the societies Astia works (North America, UK/Europe, India), men and women are still by-and-large in separate business networks. 95% of VC partners and 85% of Angels are men. VC and Angel investment relies heavily on trusted business relationships - often for early stage investors, the only risk that can be mitigated is that of the individuals involved and if they are known to the investor. Trusted business relationships are always going to win in this scenario. Therefore, you can see how within the high-growth space, groups (men and women) who are not naturally in each others' networks, will suffer as a result. Entrepreneurs will suffer because they will lack access to capital. Investors will suffer because they will lack access to the full compliment of deals. Astia sees this is a societal issue, not one of VC or Angel per se.

Access to Opportunity - Women still self-assess differently then men and as a result, aspire differently. We are often exposing women to the opportunity of high-growth entrepreneurship as opposed to small business enterprise. We are also showing them how their prior experience maps to becoming a high-growth entrepreneur (this is especially the case with women scientists and technical experts). 

There are many great women organizations supporting entrepreneurs. Most are focused on non-tech areas, where there is a much higher participation by women or are purely focused on networking or mentoring.

The Awards has also increased the visibility of the low number of women CEOs in VC invested companies, for 2006 only 4.3% of investments made had a woman CEO which is down from 7.5% in 2002.

We have just changed our name to Astia from the Women's Technology Cluster. Although it is a large change there is no change in our mission, it reflects the growth of our mission.

• We have increased the active participation of men who have been invaluable to our companies' success
• We have moved from serving high tech companies, to also serving life science and clean tech companies
• We have grown from a "cluster" where our companies were on-site, to serving companies throughout the US

Our tag line "where women innovators succeed" endorses a bigger scope and summarizes what we achieve.

The Women's Technology Cluster no longer adequately described who we are.

Women - we are really about women and men working together - not building a silo for women, but focused in integration. Women so boldly in the name disenfranchises the men who are also in our community and ecosystem.

Technology is typically interpreted as referring to high technology which is where we started. Now we are encompassing all forms of technological innovation, including biotechnology, med tech and clean tech.

Cluster was appropriate when we had principally on site portfolio companies, but we have now moved completely away from this.

Goal of Change
The goal was to bring the name in line with what we are as well as what we intend to be in the near future. We wanted a name that was not limiting; has longevity; is distinctive and appealing; would not alienate any key groups in our community.

The name change in no way impacts our mission which will remain the same with a clear focus on women-led companies across all areas of technology.

Latin origins of Astia
Astelia - a plant, thereby connoting the growth of the companies and leaders we work with

Astrum - star, an allusion to the rising star of women entrepreneurs

Astia - Where Women Innovators Succeed