An Omaha company is looking to make it easier for women-owned businesses to get off the ground or grow with a crowdfunding portal specifically for female entrepreneurs.
Molly Huyck, the founder of AeQuitas Investments, or AQi, said she came up with the idea while mentoring female entrepreneurs in other countries. Recent research from Yale and Pitchbook has shown that female entrepreneurs receive far less venture capital funding than men, even when they start similar companies and have similar entrepreneurial histories.
“Women don’t have the same access as men to start or grow companies,” she said. “And when I first learned about that, I thought, I really want to be a part of the solution to this.”
Initially, Huyck said she wanted to start a capital fund to help solve the problem. But she later shifted to a crowdfunding platform, since there are already multiple funds that focus specifically on supporting woman-owned businesses.
AQi’s crowdfunding platform launched Tuesday. It’s certified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a Regulation Crowdfunding, or Reg CF, platform – meaning that anyone is able to invest. Other types of funding, like venture capital and angel funds, require investors to be accredited, meaning they are either wealthy or have a background in finance.
“It’s very similar to GoFundMe, but instead of investing in a nonprofit or someone who needs help, you’re actually just investing in other privately held companies, and you receive equity in exchange for that,” Huyck said. “So when there’s dividends, or when there’s any major change, like a sale or the company goes public, that’s when the investors get a return on their money, just like they would investing in a publicly traded company on the stock market.”
One business, Blockchain Homes, has already launched a campaign through AQi, and others are working their way through the approval process. Huyck said the platform is focused on businesses with a regional or national scale across all industries. Some of the companies that have expressed interest so far are tied to medical technology and AI, she said. To be eligible, companies must be at least 50% women-owned.
Reg CF allows businesses to raise up to $5 million per year. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, in 2025, 434 companies reported proceeds from Reg CF funding totaling $207.3 million.