The Mom Project

More than 18 months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.6 million women are still missing from the paid labor force in the U.S. Bringing them back will require an overhaul of the country’s inadequate, expensive childcare and other caretaking options—as well as high-quality, flexible job offers from employers who won’t penalize mothers for their pandemic-era résumé gaps. Enter The Mom Project, a five-year-old startup that runs a women-focused hiring platform for tech, finance, and other professional services jobs. The Chicago-based company works with more than 3,000 employers—including Delta, Nike, Etsy, Facebook, and Accenture—who use the platform mostly to post contract-based jobs. More than 500,000 women are seeking employment through The Mom Project, which has seen its revenue jump from $5 million three years ago to an expected $55 million to $60 million this year. The startup, which raised a $60 million Series C round this month for a private valuation of $330 million, also counts Serena Williams as a strategic adviser.