Six Newest EmpowHer Grantees Receive $300,000 to Grow Businesses Tackling Challenges in Healthcare, Sustainability, Environmental Protection and Women’s Economic Empowerment
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Boundless Futures Foundation, a family foundation started by Soon and McKeel Hagerty, has officially surpassed $1.5 million in lifetime grant funding to female founders and mission aligned nonprofits since its founding in 2023.
The milestone comes as the Foundation announces its newest round of EmpowHer grants, awarding $300,000 to six female founded businesses. Each company will receive $50,000 to help advance businesses that pair growth with meaningful social or environmental impact through business products, services, or models.
The newest grantees represent the breadth of challenges female founders are addressing through business. From developing solutions spanning medical technology, environmental remediation, sustainable packaging, women’s wellness, economic empowerment and lower carbon construction.
Together, the six companies demonstrate the range of purpose driven businesses that can emerge when entrepreneurs identify a problem and build a business around solving it.
The Newest EmpowHer Grant Recipients:
- Accelidea: Rose Huang founded Accelidea in Boston, Massachusetts, with a simple belief: no patient should wait years for technology that could save their life. A cancer survivor and MedTech leader, Huang has helped bring more than 20 medical devices to market during her 15 years working with startups and Fortune 500 companies. Accelidea uses artificial intelligence to streamline regulatory, quality and engineering work, helping medical device innovators bring safe, effective technologies to patients sooner.
- Enspired Solutions: Denise Kay, PhD, co-founded Enspired Solutions in Lansing, Michigan, to commercialize technology that destroys PFAS at the molecular level. Kay brings more than 20 years of experience in environmental toxicology, ecological risk assessment and contaminant fate, including co leading development of proprietary PFAS destroying chemistry at Ramboll. Enspired Solutions’ patented, USEPA recognized technology offers a solution to one of the most persistent environmental contaminants.
- RIES: Megan Graham founded RIES in New York, New York, to create a more sustainable way to travel with beauty products. Drawing on her experience in beauty marketing at publications including Vogue and Allure, Graham developed RIES patented reusable airless pump toiletry bottle, designed specifically for prestige beauty products. Launched in 2022, RIES is focused on reducing waste while making it easier to take a beauty routine on the go and is the first and only travel brand available on Sephora.com.
- Rif Care: Valerie Emanuel and Rebecca Caputo co founded Rif Care in Southern California to create cleaner, more accountable products for women’s wellness. Emanuel brings a background in sustainability, wellness and ethical brand building, including co founding Role Models Management, while Caputo brings expertise in biology and diagnostic science from her work in cancer diagnostics and sustainable research. Together, they combine consumer brand experience and scientific expertise to develop more thoughtful solutions for women’s wellness.
- ShopConsciously: Mpho Hansjee founded ShopConsciously in San Jose, California, to connect consumers, retailers and corporate buyers with handmade and upcycled products created by women artisans across Africa. After founding the nonprofit Women Enabled Enterprises in 2020 to provide women entrepreneurs with business education and mentorship, Hansjee recognized that access to customers was a critical barrier and launched ShopConsciously in 2021 as a market access platform. The company has since expanded beyond e-commerce into physical retail, wholesale and corporate gifting, creating new opportunities for women artisans while bringing sustainability and economic empowerment into its business model.
- Tikal Industries: Tayyaba Ali, CTO, co founded Tikal Industries in Chicago, Illinois, to transform industrial waste into lower carbon construction materials, including cement replacements and supplementary cementitious materials. The company’s materials are engineered to meet ASTM performance standards while reducing emissions from manufacturing and transportation. Tikal produces its materials in modular micro factories located near waste sources and the markets they serve.
Boundless Futures Foundation receives hundreds of applications during each grant cycle from female founders across the United States. EmpowHer grants support early stage, female founded businesses addressing social issues related to poverty, hunger or humanitarian aid, sustainability and the environment.
“We are continually inspired by the number and caliber of women who are building businesses around solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges,” said Soon Hagerty, co-founder and president, Boundless Futures Foundation. “Reaching $1.5 million in grants is an important milestone for our Foundation, but it is also a reminder of how much opportunity there is to invest in women who are creating businesses with the potential for lasting impact. These founders are doing exactly that, and we are thrilled to support them at this stage of their journeys.”
Since its inception, Boundless Futures Foundation has supported more than 50 female founders through EmpowHer grants and mission aligned nonprofits through its Her Village grant program. The Foundation provides more than financial support to its grantees. Each EmpowHer recipient also has access to an Advisory Circle of seasoned female founders who provide optional resources including leadership development, skills building assistance, mentorship and networking opportunities.
The Foundation’s $1.5 million in grantmaking reflects its commitment to providing both capital and connections to women building businesses designed to create positive change. Learn more about past grantees and Boundless Futures Foundation, apply for funding, or obtain other resources by visiting boundlessfutures.org. The next round of EmpowHer grants opens for application November 1, 2026.
About Boundless Futures Foundation
Founded in September 2023 by Soon and McKeel Hagerty, Boundless Futures Foundation provides financial support and leadership resources to female founders so they can have a boundless impact on society. The Foundation empowers women entrepreneurs in the United States by providing grant funding to individuals with a business from early stage up to five years old that solves a social issue, as well as to mission-aligned nonprofits. The Foundation also provides access for individual grantees to an Advisory Circle, a supportive network to guide their entrepreneurial journey. In 2025, the Foundation marked a major milestone by providing more than $1 million total in EmpowHer and Her Village grants nationwide within two years. For more information, visit boundlessfutures.org and follow Boundless Futures Foundation on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boundless-futures-foundation-surpasses-1-5-million-in-grants-to-female-founders-302882080.html
SOURCE Boundless Futures Foundation
