Elpha is a professional networking service for women launched by Y Combinator alumni Cowansage and her cofounders Abadesi Osunsade and Kuan Luo in 2017. Since launching in 2017, Elpha has seen over 7,500 members sign up.
Its free nature may account for its success; without advertisements or pop-ups to display, and offering options to select what personal data to share on the platform. Furthermore, they request links to your LinkedIn or other professional social media profiles in order to verify identity.
Once registered, Elpha provides you with an opportunity to interact with members who share similar interests or are working in your industry. Events in your local area, advice from other members, job postings from Elpha’s curated list and even filling out a short form to keep tabs on job openings that fit with your skills and experience are just some ways it helps connect you.
Elpha seeks to foster an online community where high-achieving women can support each other, connect personally and professionally, receive advice from industry experts, and find job opportunities. Unlike other professional networking sites, Elpha is designed as a safe and positive space; no anonymous postings or anonymous comments can be seen here – instead all new users must first be approved before being permitted to post links or comments – this ensures all users feel welcome and safe within its space.
In our interview with Elpha’s founders, they expressed that their mission was to establish a platform where women could discuss workplace issues without resorting to negative stereotypes or generalizations. Furthermore, they were very concerned with diversity issues within tech and felt Elpha was an opportunity for them to help resolve it.
One of the more unique aspects of Elpha is its carefully curated job board, which features jobs from companies who actively seek female talent in technology departments. This provides women with an easy way to browse available tech positions while making connections with employers looking for female workers.
Elpha’s technology blends cybersecurity software with cyber insurance to identify risks, provide on-demand data backup and restoration services and offer intelligent insights. This model could reduce the cost of cyber risk transfer while helping SMBs cover themselves against threats without having to limit coverage or raise rates. Fermat Capital Management, a specialist investor in catastrophe bonds and ILS securities participated in Elpha’s $20 Million Series A funding round alongside Canapi Ventures and several leading insurance and reinsurance firms; Elpha plans on raising more capital this year in order to continue expanding their business operations.
