Six Iowa women-owned businesses netted a total of $40,000 from local investors at Iowa Women Lead Change’s annual Invest in She event, held last Thursday night at the Kirkwood Hotel and Event Center in Cedar Rapids.

Of the six women-owned businesses, investors chose to distribute financial support in the following denominations:

• UpCraft Club – Elizabeth Caven – $20,000.
• Adore Your Walls – Liz Lidgett – $10,000.
• Take the Cake Cupcakes/Ashton Hill Farm & Vineyard – Megan Knatz – $3,000.
• Burst Cycle – Stacie Shannon and Michelle Horak – $3,000.
• Flaggers National Traffic Control Systems – Denise Fenwick Beavers – $2,500.
• Kittd – Maria Sanchez-Masi & Kristie VanGorkom – $1,500.

“These six women-owned businesses were inspiring,” Diane Ramsey, CEO of IWLC, said in a news release. “We were very impressed by the caliber of businesses that were represented, as well as the knowledge, insight and commitment provided by our investors.”

Following the event, Elizabeth Caven, founder and owner of Des Moines-based UpCraft Club, said she was speechless.

“It was a phenomenal event,” she said in the release. “It is fun to tell people about what the company is, and it’s great to see people getting excited about sewing.”

Caven said she plans to use the funding for technology and marketing.

The second-year event celebrated female entrepreneurism in Iowa. Each entrepreneur was allowed to present in front of a panel of investors and pitch their business’s plans or needs. Investors then chose to allocate specific amounts of funding to each woman based on her pitch. The event was open to the public.

Organizers plan to expand Invest in She as early as this year with a Sept. 10 event at Sticks Inc. in Des Moines.

IWLC’s partners for Invest in She’s Corridor event included the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, SBDC, Kirkwood Community College, ICAD and Ascent. All took part in identifying, screening and prepping the female entrepreneurs who participated in the event.

For more information about Invest in She, visit www.InvestinSheCR.com.