Giving Compass' Take:

• From legal changes to startling growth, women entrepreneurs had much to celebrate in 2019 and Kimberly Weisul highlights these milestones.

• How can this article help to inspire women around the world? What new strides can we hope for in 2020? 

• Here's an article on valuable lessons from world-changing women entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are notoriously optimistic, and women entrepreneurs are no exception: Midway through the year, a survey by Inc. and Fast Company found that 90 percent of female founders expected their business to improve over the next 12 months. It's not clear if reality matched that hopeful outlook, but 2019 certain gave women founders something to celebrate.

Here are five milestones reached by women entrepreneurs in 2019, listed in no particular order:

  1. Alice puts ne'er do well investors on notice. Some 65 percent of women entrepreneurs say they've experienced harassment or discrimination--and 46 percent said a banker or investors was to blame, according to the Inc. and Fast Company survey. Founders have almost no recourse if harassed by an investor. They can't even file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, because those apply to interactions between employers and employees.
  2. Julie Wainwright takes The RealReal public. Too few women can say they've both founded companies and taken them public without a male co-founder. Katrina Lake brought Stitchfix public in November of 2017. Then, in June of this year Julie Wainwright joined those elite ranks. The founder of luxury consignment site The RealReal took her company public on the Nasdaq, raising $300 million in the process.
  3. Harlem Capital raises money for underrepresented founders. In December, Harlem Capital announced the close of its first fund, at $40 million. That's a big number for a first-time fund, and well over the firm's goal of $25 million. It's also impressive because Harlem's managing partners--Henri Pierre-Jacques and Jarrid Tingle, along with venture partners Brandon Bryant and John Henry--are black, and fewer than one percent of venture capitalists are black. It's good news for women because Harlem is committed to investing in under-represented founders.
  4. Women get board seats (in California). As of the end of 2019, at least one member of a California-based public company's board must be a woman, thanks to a law passed in 2018. By July 2021, companies with five directors will have to have at least two female boardmembers, and companies with six or more directors will have to have at least three women.
  5. More women-led companies hit the big time. In 2018, 12 companies founded or co-founded by women achieved billion-dollar valuations, or so-called unicorn status. Although the final figures are not in, it looks like 2019 will easily beat those numbers. In just the first six months of 2019, there were 10 new unicorns founded or co-founded by women, including FabFitFun, Glossier, Rent the Runway, and Confluent

Read the full article about women entrepreneurs in 2019 by Kimberly Weisul at Inc.