Quesnay's Female Founders in Tech Program Awards Goalsetter First Place

    NEW YORK, NY, December 13, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Quesnay is pleased to announce that Goalsetter is the winner of the inaugural Female Founders in Tech, spotlighting female founders that positively impact the financial services and/or insurance technology industries.

"We were extremely inspired by the quality and originality of startups that applied to our innovation program," said Jennifer Byrne, president and co-founder, Quesnay. "I was also delighted to see that several judges identified immediate deployment opportunities... exactly what we had hoped."

Approximately 100 women-led startups registered for the program with solutions ranging from artificial intelligence to blockchain to creative financial literacy and savings solutions. Seven finalists presented in New York to a panel of judges which included industry leaders from the sponsoring organizations: John Hancock, MassMutual, RGAx, Sterling National Bank, TD Bank and Thomson Reuters. The program was also sponsored by AARP, American Family Insurance, Microsoft, Verizon Open Innovation Lab and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

The winners represented cutting-edge businesses that were also socially conscious:
- Goalsetter - Goalsetter is a goal-based savings and gifting platform, targeting millennials.
- Marinus Analytics - Marinus uses technologies to help identify and fight crimes like human trafficking and money laundering associated with it and other illicit activities
- LENDonate - LENDonate provides a marketplace lending platform for non-profits and supporters.

"It's an honor to win. It's more than just money, it's the business development, contacts and partnership from this community that are priceless," said Tanya Van Court, founder and CEO, Goalsetter. "Female-led businesses generate US $1.6 trillion in annual revenue, yet only 4% of VC funding goes to female entrepreneurs. It's time to flip the script, and programs like Female Founders in Tech have the potential to accomplish this."

"The TD purpose is to enrich the lives of our customers, our communities and our colleagues, so when I think about this partnership with Quesnay, it hits me from a couple of perspectives - getting introduced to start-ups doing really great, cool things and helping to drive transformational change," said Karen Buck, EVP, Commercial, Retail and Payment Operations, TD Bank. "As Chair of TD's Women in Leadership committee, I also look to invest in our female leaders both within TD, as well as external to TD."

Quesnay will also build upon the success of the program, continuing to support the participants, expanding mentorship support as well as launch programs in additional sectors in the new year.

If you are interested in connecting with any of the program participants or would like more information about being a program sponsor, please email [email protected].

Quesnay is an innovation consulting firm that bridges the gap between traditional firms and the best innovators and emerging young companies, preparing both sides to take advantage of the opportunities created by the ongoing market disruption. Quesnay partners with companies to solve their innovation challenges by running innovation competitions and acceleration programs as well as providing strategic consulting services. For more information, follow us at @QuesnayInc and visit us at https://www.quesnays.com.

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