FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Astia Issues Statement in Support of Three Significant Women and Girls’ Initiatives Announced by Secretary Hillary Clinton at Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship

April 28, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO, NEW YORK AND LONDON

Astia, a premier venture accelerator that targets exceptional start-ups with women on their founding teams, today issued the following statement in support of three significant initiatives announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of today’s Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

The Secretary announced the “Secretary’s Innovation Award for Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment,” in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.  The Secretary has invited women and girls to submit initial concept papers outlining pioneering approaches to the political, economic and social empowerment of females.  Two essayists will be selected to receive an Innovation Award in the form of a grant of up to $500,000 with which to expand the scope of their idea.  The Secretary also announced the “Secretary’s Fund for Women and Girls,” a State Department-led public-private partnership committed to providing flexible, rapid, targeted, and high-impact grants to nongovernmental organizations working to meet the critical needs of women and girls around the world. Lastly, she announced the Department of State Office of Citizen Exchanges of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is seeking applications for the TechWomen program. The program will link approximately 20-40 emerging female leaders from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the West Bank and Gaza, who have at least two years of professional experience in the field of technology, with female peer mentors in the United States for a four- to six-week mentorship program.

“Data shows that innovation, whether in business, sciences or the arts, requires gender diversity.  Yet, opportunities for women continue to lag those available to men,” said Sharon Vosmek, CEO of Astia.  “We applaud Secretary Clinton, the Rockefeller Foundation and the participating government entities for recognizing the value of female-driven innovation and putting essential resources behind helping not only today’s, but tomorrow’s generation of creative women thinkers.”

ABOUT ASTIA
Astia is a global not-for-profit organization with a distinct focus and mission – to uniquely source innovation by propelling women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth. Guided by a proven philosophy that gender diversity is an essential element of innovation, Astia works with start-ups around the world as they access capital, grow their businesses, and hone the leadership skills of their founding teams.  The Astia model of engaging a community of experts to the benefit of the select start-ups it serves has resulted in an exceptional success rate: since 2003, 60 percent of companies that have participated in the Astia Investor Forums have secured funding or achieved an exit within one year of presenting, totaling more than half a billion dollars raised and 17 exits, including two IPOs.  Headquartered in San Francisco, Astia delivers programs for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, New York, London and India.  For more information, visit www.astia.org.

ABOUT ASTIA SPONSORS
Astia is generously supported by global sponsors including Microsoft; Cisco; SVB Financial; The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Fenwick & West; Moss Adams; Wells Fargo; The Three Guineas Fund; Osborne Clarke; Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo, P.C.; Deloitte; The Althea Foundation; Morrison & Foerster LLP; Iron Creative; Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal; Reed Smith; Tier One PR; AngelSoft; IF Communications; US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management; as well as a number of premier venture capital firms including, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Asset Management Company, Intel Capital, Alloy Ventures, Apex Venture Partners, Opus Capital, Prolog Ventures, Illuminate Ventures; Garage Technology Ventures, Hamilton Lane, Levensohn Venture Partners; and the angel investment group GoldenSeeds.
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