Girlboss to Take on LinkedIn With Its Own Social Network Sophia Amoruso's company raised $3.5 million for the venture.
By Nina Zipkin
Girlboss' next move is taking on LinkedIn. The career site geared toward millennial women founded by Sophia Amoruso recently got a $3.5 million cash infusion in a funding round led by Initialized Capital, the venture capital group run by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. As of its most recent funding round in 2017, the company was valued at $13.1 million.
Amoruso's plan is to roll out a paid professional social-networking platform called Girlboss Collective in January. The site will be developed as a networking hub to serve young women whose careers don't necessarily line up with a traditional trajectory, particularly if they are freelancing, have multiple part-time jobs or gaps in their resume. Girlboss Collective will be available to people of any gender to use.
Related: With Girlboss, Sophia Amoruso Is Using Past Failures to Fuel Her Latest Success
"LinkedIn is a place that was built for another era of work, when the work we did was very traditional," Amoruso told The Wall Street Journal. "Their product is really centered on that type of work: "Here's nothing about my character and everything about where I went to school, and where I worked.'"
Amoruso, who formerly founded online retailer Nasty Gal, shared that the idea for the platform grew out of closed Facebook group called "Girlboss Gang," which has 5,609 members. There are currently more than 15,000 users on a waitlist to join Girlboss Collective. During its testing phase, it will be only for U.S. users and by invitation only.
Girlboss Collective users will also be able to view 50 hours of Girlboss Rally's, networking events held in Los Angeles and New York with panels and keynotes around topics including navigating the boys club and building a business out of your side hustle. The next is set to take place in November in New York with speakers including Arianna Huffington, Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Hyman, Shine co-founder and co-CEO Marah Lidey and Zola founder and CEO Shan-Lyn Ma.
