What’s the secret of their success? Summer camp

Duggal, an entrepreneur herself, experienced this unbalanced dynamic when she was seeking funds for her own e-commerce businesses.

“The real takeaway was around funding and the fact that almost everybody that we met as part of our fundraising journey was male,” she said. “As I looked into the numbers, it became clear there was kind of a larger issue at hand.”

Over 11 years, the initiative has raised funds for female-founded businesses that are now worth over $3 billion in total. Still, women-led startups only receive about 2% of all venture capital money, according to the 2025 Female Founders Fund Report.

Duggal founded the camp five years ago to juice investment momentum by connecting founders through a sense of community and nostalgic summer fun — and as an antidote to “tech bro” culture.

“This is where we get those conversations done,” Kristie D’Ambrosio-Correll, the founder of Dacora Motors, which produces ultra-luxury electric vehicles. “And women have a lot of power and a lot of wealth, and more and more every day. This is our golf course.”