Aravenda, a Fairfax e-commerce software company targeting consignment shops and resellers, has landed a spot in the latest women's founders cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator.
CEO Carolyn Thompson, who founded Aravenda in 2018, said the coveted 10-week virtual program will help broaden her network and find access to capital outside of D.C.
“As a nongovernment contractor in Washington, we don't get a lot of attention because everybody wants to buy something that's cybersecurity,” she said. “They want to invest in things that support the government.”
Aravenda’s software helps consignment or resale shops track inventory and manage payouts to people who sell there. Customers can use the software to build websites and manage inventory across several locations.
The company, which has eight employees, is also looking to boost its corporate and enterprise businesses by allowing companies to resell electronics and office supplies they no longer use. Thompson declined to disclose revenue but said the company is growing 300% year-over-year.
Google's once-a-year women founders program connects founders with mentorship opportunities, technical guidance and support from a community of women founders. The tech giant, which is owned by Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), says women founders have raised a collective $73.46 million since graduating from the program.
“The Google Accelerator is a really exciting opportunity because thousands of people apply,” said Thompson. “We were chosen as one of 11. We were lucky to get to the final selection process.”
In its fourth year, the accelerator is the multibillion dollar company’s effort to combat inequities in venture capital funding by offering mentorship guidance and technical support to help female founders grow and scale their businesses, according to PitchBook. Women receive less than 3% of all VC investments.
Thompson hopes to use the momentum from the Google accelerator to find more investors to support product development growth and demystify how Google and its products like Google Cloud and its marketing services work.
Earlier this year, Thompson went through another accelerator program, Techstars, which was held on site for three months in Oakland. Learning about that ecosystem and others like it in Austin, Texas, and New York made her recognize there are other opportunities for capital.
Aravenda is currently raising a $3 million seed round that it hopes to close this year using the momentum from being attached to a Google accelerator. The company has already started seeing traction from investors in other parts of the country following the Techstars stint.
“I wish we had more, more in our own backyard, but they're more interested in government contracting and things like that than they are a commercial application like we are,” she said.
She understands that the government and its purchasing power are key to the D.C. economy, but she wishes there were more programs to support commercial software development companies in the area.
