Startup funding has surged in recent years, but the numbers of women founders have not increased at the same pace. Last year, companies founded solely by women garnered only 2% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the U.S. Moreover, the vast majority of U.S. business owners and entrepreneurs today cannot access formal financing. Entrepreneurs are often encouraged to raise a "friends and family" round to help bolster their company's early days. But this concept comes with inherent privilege and bias baked in, resulting in women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs being less likely to successfully secure this kind of funding and perpetuating systemic barriers to growth and equity. This grant program seeks to level the playing field for the founders most impacted by gaps in early-stage funding and change the status quo.