Inc.'s eighth annual Female Founders list highlights the nation's top business leaders who challenge the status quo to tackle some of the world's biggest problems
BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / March 11, 2025 / Inc., the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future, today announced its eighth annual Female Founders list, honoring a bold group of 500 women whose innovations and ideas are leading their industries forward. These resilient entrepreneurs expressed grit and drive to collectively attract approximately $9 billion in 2024 revenue and $10.6 billion in funding.
Butlr co-founder Jiani Zeng named to Inc Female Founders 500
Each year, Inc. editors review thousands of applications highlighting female founders who are challenging the status quo and tackling some of the world's biggest problems, and cull applicants through three rounds of judging, looking specifically at an entrepreneur's bona fides in the past year. Criteria include quantifiable metrics such as revenue, sales, revenue growth, funding, and audience size. Inc. also looks for qualitative metrics including social media momentum and stories of impact.
Honoree selection is also honed through the evaluation of the program's advisory board: Cate Luzio, founder and CEO of Luminary; Dany Garcia, founder, CEO, and chairperson of the Garcia Companies; Pinky Cole Hayes, founder and CEO of Slutty Vegan; Anu Duggal, founding partner at Female Founders Fund; Katherine Power, serial entrepreneur and partner at Greycroft; Tiffany Dufu, president of the Tory Burch Foundation and founder of the Cru; and Kay Koplovitz, co-founder and chair at Springboard Enterprises, founder of USA Network.
"I am honored and humbled to be recognized by Inc. and its prestigious judges as part of this year's Female Founders 500. From the beginning, our team has been committed to transforming the built environment into one that supports the needs of today's workforce and older adults while ensuring a sustainable future," said Jiani Zeng, co-founder and chief product officer, Butlr. "We are grateful that our efforts are lauded and today we reiterate our commitment to developing technologies that positively impact lives while fostering a work culture that supports, celebrates and advances women."
The founders cross all industries and bring with them unique stories of success from each stage of the entrepreneurial journey - from startup to going public, being acquired by big buyers, or spending decades at the helm of an organization.
Jiani holds a B.Eng in Product Design with First-Class Honors from the University of Nottingham and a Master of Science degree from MIT. Butlr was spun off from the MIT Media Lab in 2019 and it is through Jiani's design philosophy and leadership that the company has achieved triple digit growth, global expansion and raised a Series B round of funding in 2024.
Her design philosophy centers on the exploration of virtual intimacy in physical reality, where the digital and physical realms intersect to unveil new dimensions of perceived realism in our tech-driven lives. At the heart of her work are computational modeling and simulation, which she employs to achieve a precise balance between beauty and function, grounded in scientific rigor. As a result, Jiani designed Butlr's award-winning Heatic 2+sensors, which are transforming the built environment. The sensors magnetically mount to the wall or ceiling and understand the subtle movements of humans in a space.
In the past year alone, Jiani has earned the following awards: the Architizer A+ in Smart Building Technology, Core 77 Product Design, Dezeen Award in Sustainability, iF Design, Good Design, IDEA Silver, K-Design Award, Salesforce Dreampitch first place, "AI for a Better Tomorrow," and Red Dot Best of the Best. Additionally, she is an Advisory Board Member for Iowa State University's College of Design.
"Female founders know what struggle is, but they're also experts of improvisation, adaptability, and creativity. The women featured on this year's list exemplify these qualities. Through times of uncertainty, their unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership are not only inspiring but vital to driving progress," said Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom.
Several honorees will be featured in Inc. magazine's Female Founders issue, on newsstands March 18, 2025. To see the complete list of honorees, please visit: https://www.inc.com/female-founders
About Inc.
Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
About Butlr
Butlr is an MIT Media Lab spinout that fuses artificial intelligence with body heat sensing technology to build patented sensors and an anonymous people-sensing platform. Using thermal insights, Butlr technology understands subtle movements in a space, accurately discerns activity, occupancy, indoor location, and body posture yet is purposely designed to be incapable of capturing personally identifiable information. Butlr spatial insights are used by some of the world's largest companies in hospitality, senior living, health care, commercial real estate, retail, and public transportation to inform decisions regarding space occupancy and utilization, user experiences, patient safety, compliance, staffing, and ensuring buildings are operating with high efficiency and sustainability. These customers include Verizon, Netflix, Carrier, Microsoft, and CBRE. For more information, visit www.butlr.com.
Contact Information
Kathy Keating
Public Relations
kkeating@prosincomms.com
617-460-2702
SOURCE: Butlr Technologies Inc
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