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Governor Phil Murphy

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Women and Minority Owned Businesses

Golden Seeds

By investing in female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, we demonstrate the value of a woman’s presence in business. Beyond that, we show the world the impact women can make when they are autonomous, healthy, and financially independent.

In early 2020, First Lady Tammy Murphy and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority launched the New Jersey chapter of Golden Seeds, a nation-wide angel investor network dedicated to investing in female-led startup companies. The organization has more than 300 members that include accredited investors from a diverse range of locations, sectors, and backgrounds. The New Jersey chapter of the organization joined seven other established Golden Seeds chapters in Arizona, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, New York City, and Silicon Valley.

The data is clear: In the first ten months of 2018, female-founded startups have closed 391 deals worth $2.3 billion, up from $2 billion in 2017. And, when compared with the S&P 500 Index, Fortune 1000 companies led by female CEOs saw returns that were 226 percent higher. Companies that include women in top management positions increase their profit margins and produce more patents than teams with solely male leaders, yet most businesses are still founded and led exclusively by men. This disparity is particularly glaring and problematic in the start-up sector.

Closing the funding gap for female-led startups will help close the gender wage and employment gaps and bring us closer to developing New Jersey’s diverse innovation economy.

This partnership with Golden Seeds will increase the availability of angel capital for female-led businesses and provide mentoring opportunities for female business leaders. This, in turn, will help foster a strong, cohesive angel investing community in New Jersey by bringing members together to identify investment opportunities, conduct due diligence, and support companies in which they choose to invest.

Investors interested in getting more information about the NJ Chapter of Golden Seeds should contact GoldenSeeds@njeda.com.

Learn more about the NJ chapter of Golden Seeds here, including office hours.

Listening Tour

Small businesses are critical to New Jersey’s economy and so is our diversity. Although our state is small, over 861,000 companies operate in New Jersey. Over half of the firms in the state are women and minority-owned, and one-third of all New Jersey business owners are foreign-born.

In 2019, First Lady Tammy Murphy began a listening tour of women and minority-owned businesses throughout New Jersey to learn more about our small business community from the owners themselves and highlight the minority and women entrepreneurs who hold up our economy.

Many of these businesses receive support from New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Small Business Services Team. Learn more about their small business programs