Fintech entrepreneur Suneera Madhani spoke at the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations, saying, “My journey in female entrepreneurship…it’s been lonely.”
It was a sobering admission from Madhani, who successfully exited her company Stax Payments in 2023 north of $1 billion, earning her “unicorn” status. The current founder and CEO of Worth AI told the crowd at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Summit (WEDO2024) on November 15 in New York City that she learned firsthand that it’s not easy to be a woman running—or founding—a startup.
“It was really tough for me scaling that business, even though I scaled it to a $1 billion exit,” says Madhani, who was recognized by Fortune’s “40 Under 40” and was a 2021 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of The Year. “I couldn’t get a loan. I couldn’t get a line of credit. I couldn’t open up a business banking account.”