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INTO THE VENUSVERSE: NEW STARTUP EMPOWERS WOMEN TO LEARN, CREATE AND CONNECT IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
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A pair of prominent women in Waterloo Region announced the launch of Venusverse, the first Canadian female founded, female focused educational program, incubator and NFT collection. Addressing the gender gap and removing barriers to entry for women in NFTs, cryptocurrency and Web3, co-founders Janelle Chalouhi and Natalie Dumond created Venusverse to be an inclusive space for women.
The program focuses on educating women about NFTs, cryptocurrency and Web3 by providing insight into digital assets, creating digital collections, building digital brands, developing partnerships, and increasing digital financial literacy. The duo plans to launch the first Venusverse NFTs, the Venusverse Genesis Collection, in mid-February.
“Women account for only five per cent of all cryptocurrency and NFT owners in Canada,” said Janelle Chalouhi, co-founder and CEO of Venusverse. “We are enabling women to be at the forefront of change and evolution as we move into the rapidly evolving world of Web3.”
“We’ve combined over six months worth of discovery and distilled it into one-hour workshops for women to learn, connect and build within the NFT and Web3 spaces, closing the gender gap in crypto and blockchain technology,” said Natalie Dumond, co-founder and Facilitator of Venusverse.
To make an even greater impact in gender equity, the founders of Venusverse are collaborating with Profound Impact
In true community-building fashion, Chalouhi will join Profound Impact Corporation as an advisor in partnership engagement. Profound Impact is a Toronto-Waterloo innovation corridor-based startup that helps education, research and social impact community organizations leverage data to measure program impact, tell their stories and inform strategies.
“Our collaboration with Venusverse aligns perfectly with our long-term stakeholder engagement strategy,” said Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, founder and CEO of Profound Impact Corporation. “Venusverse will use Profound Impact’s business intelligence and engagement tools to measure the increased involvement of women in NFT, Web3 and crypto. Our shared goal is to measure the global impact of connecting great people to do great work in these growing fields.”
With the support of CivicAction, Venusverse is working to break the systemic barriers that hold women back from fully engaging in and benefitting from the new economy.
“It is critical that our economic recovery be inclusive,” said Leslie Woo, CEO of CivicAction. “This is why it’s important to provide an entry point for women of all intersectionalities. Through education, Venusverse is supporting the comfort and confidence of women, enabling them to be greater beneficiaries in this growth economy.”
Upon the launch of the Venusverse Genesis Collection of 2,022 NFTs in mid-February, 10 per cent of revenue will be donated to the CivicAction Leadership Foundation in support of women in the organization’s leadership programs, including the DiverseCity Fellows and the Emerging Leaders Network.
The launch of Venusverse marks a new era in digital innovation in Waterloo Region – one of the world’s fastest growing tech sectors, and the birthplace of the Ethereum blockchain technology.