The newest eight ventures selected by the SheEO network for funding this year have been announced.

The SheEO network and SheEO Ventures are taking on the world's to-do list, which means their business models and outcomes help achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Leading up to the summit, the newest founders spent the weekend at a retreat with their Development Guides. One of the unique features of the SheEO model is that the Ventures decide amongst themselves how to allocate the $800,000 fund.

The eight ventures selected are as follows:

Think Dirty

Inspired by her mom, a breast cancer survivor, Lily Tse created the Think Dirty app so you can scan your beauty and personal care products to learn whether they contain ingredients that are carcinogens or hormone disruptors.

With more than 638,000 products rated, Think Dirty is a consumer revolution that helps you make informed and socially responsible choices about what you put on your body AND leverages our buying power to incentivize the beauty industry to give us cleaner, safer options.

Wastenot Farms

When Jocelyn Molyneux graduated from university full of environmental zeal and went to work for a waste management company, she rapidly realized that most of what she thought was being recycled was actually going to landfills.

At the same time, she was using worms to compost in her own backyard, with exceptional results. She thought, Someone should commercialize and scale this…

She realized that someone was her, and turned that challenge and opportunity into a company.

Wastenot Farms provides a food waste commercial pick-up service to offices (using an electric van); composts the food waste using red wriggler worms; dries and processes the output and turns it into all-natural plant food called Jocelyn’s Soil Booster that is sold at garden centres.

The Soil Booster product helps plants suck carbon out of the air and put it back in the soil, which means the entire business model — from input to output — diverts waste from the landfill each year, combats climate change by cleaning the air, and helps us grows healthier food.

routine.

Neige Blair is a maker. She began making natural deodorant when nothing on the market was clean or worked for her. As she shared her creation with friends, demand grew.

She joined up with her soon-to-be sister-in-law Pippa Blair, who had a background in communications, and together they grew routine from tables at markets to being on the shelves of more than 2,000 stores. They’re now expanding their manufacturing and adding new lines of natural, effective, and socially responsible products.

SomaDetect

Dr. Bethany Deshpande’s work as a biologist in permafrost regions of Canada saw her witness 50% of Canada’s northern land-mass melt, right in front of her eyes. This heart-wrenching experience made it urgently important for her to find a way to put her scientific skills to use to help people, animals and our planet.

SomaDetect is a sensor that measures compounds in milk without using any of the usual lab chemicals. Testing happens onsite, at the source, using the milk just collected from cows.

Now farmers can identify and treat sick animals right away,  track milk quality, eliminate the risk of contaminants, and ensure their operations are maximally sustainable and profitable. The end result is better data for farmers, better milk for consumers, and better lives for cows.

Saccade Analytics

Isabel Galiana has been a geologist, professional athlete and an economics professor. Her entrepreneurial bend and economics background made her the perfect partner for her mom, Dr. Mimi Galiana, who invented a tool that revolutionizes testing for concussions and other neurological disorders.

Right now, to get diagnosed, you either a undergo a subjective evaluation in a clinic or wait 26-week weeks for testing in hospital.  Saccade Analytics is changing that with an innovative, portable new method that tracks head and eye movements using virtual reality and artificial intelligence, resulting in improved diagnoses and personalized rehabilitation.

Eve Medical

When women don’t get tested, cervical cancer can’t be prevented or detected until it’s too late.

But one in three women don't test regularly because they don't have time, can't get to a clinic, or simply feel so uncomfortable they avoid it altogether.

What if the testing process could be easier, and less invasive?

Jessica Ching, cofounder of Eve Medical, designed a device and testing kit that women can use at home to test themselves for HPV and STIs. Samples are collected and sent to a lab for processing, and results are provided online. A doctor is on-hand to discuss any positive results.

Now, with Eve Medical's kits, more women around the world will get screened – and more women’s lives will be extended and saved.

Aitken Frame Homes

Kim Aitken is a structural design engineer. A few years ago, even though she had a great job, she went through a crisis that made it hard for her to find safe, quality housing for her and her two children.

The issue was supply: there simply aren't enough secure and attainable homes available.

She thought, I can fix this…so she did.

Using her engineering skills, Kim designed a new process for building high-efficiency homes with lower construction costs.  The Aitken Frame Homes proprietary design process uses traditional materials in a new way and doesn't use concrete, so houses can be built on nearly any terrain — including lower-cost, challenging lots and far-north locations.

The main structural elements are designed to be manufactured by one of many existing companies, without requiring any additional manufacturing equipment. By keeping build costs low, savings can be passed directly on to the consumer.

Now more people across Canada, including marginalized groups, families in crisis, and buyers otherwise priced out of the market, will have better access to safe and affordable homes.

CMNGD (COMMONGOOD)

After her family home was devastated in the Calgary flood, Hannah Cree was overwhelmed with gratitude for the way the community wrapped her family in support.  She wanted to give back.

Her family started spending more time volunteering at a homeless shelter, where they heard the same story and over again: people were doing everything asked of them, but employers still wouldn’t take a chance on hiring them.

Hannah and her husband Dave Cree saw a path to employment using a commercial laundry service, and together they co-founded CMNGD (COMMONGOOD). First, they went to restaurants and asked what problems they could solve and built their service model around those insights. Then they built a business model that includes measures to drastically reduce their environmental footprint (they use food waste from the restaurants and solar power to heat the water that cleans the linens) and hiring people grappling with poverty.

To date, CMNGD has created over 16,000 employment hours, provided on-the-job training and mentorship, and has assisted in moving six people out of homelessness and into their own homes.

For more information on these ventures and on SheEO, please visit: https://sheeo.world/