Innovate Alabama used International Women’s Day on March 8 to highlight women entrepreneurs in the state and the role they play in its dynamic innovation ecosystem.

Innovate Alabama hosted a panel with national venture capital firm Halogen Ventures and Alabama-based startup Prismm  at 2025 South by Southwest (SXSW), one of the nation’s most prominent conferences for innovation and entrepreneurship, held in Austin, Texas. The Alabama panel, “Powering the Future of Female Entrepreneurship,” highlighted the momentum building for women entrepreneurs in the state and spotlighted Alabama’s growing role as a tech hub, showcasing how the state is fostering female founders through strategic capital investments.

“I’ve been in Alabama for 17 years, and since Innovate Alabama’s formation in 2020, I’ve seen the tides shift when it comes to capital access,” said Martha Underwood, founder of Prismm. “Too often, people overlook Alabama for innovation, but that’s changing. Innovate Alabama understands the challenges women entrepreneurs face as we build generational wealth while managing businesses and families. By partnering with Halogen, Alabama is proving that investing in female founders isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s a profitable model for other states to follow.”

Prismm is tackling a problem that affects families everywhere – the chaos that follows when a loved one passes away without clear access to their accounts and assets. The Birmingham-based startup provides a simple, secure and affordable online service that allows individuals to store and share their most important documents with designated assignees.

Halogen Ventures, led by renowned investor and entrepreneur Jesse Draper, has been at the forefront of championing female-founded startups. The firm has invested in more than 75 startups with a collective market value exceeding $15 billion and is now making a $10 million investment in Alabama’s female founders through Innovate Alabama’s InvestAL program. At the conference, Amy Jo Martin, a Halogen Ventures limited partner (LP) and founder and CEO of Renegade Global, represented Halogen and shared why this is a strategic investment.

“Alabama has all the ingredients to be a leader in technology – from great universities to the presence of over 50 Fortune500 companies,” Draper said. “Through this collaboration, not only do we plan to catalyze the growth of the Alabama tech ecosystem, create more jobs and startup more future female billionaires, but we see a massive opportunity in healthcare, manufacturing agtech and other verticals that we look forward to capitalizing on. This is a real opportunity that more investors need to jump on.”

Beyond the panel, Innovate Alabama leveraged SXSW to showcase the state’s quality of life through its SEEK AL activation at the Inc. Founders House. Throughout the weekend, entrepreneurs and investors could experience firsthand why Alabama is more than just a place to do business, it offers a quality of life that appeals to those in the tech economy.

Innovate Alabama promotes its SEEK AL initiative at South by Southwest. (contributed)

Innovate Alabama promotes its SEEK AL initiative at South by Southwest. (contributed)

Innovate Alabama promotes its SEEK AL initiative at South by Southwest. (contributed)

“SXSW is an incredible opportunity to put Alabama’s innovators and investors on a national stage,” said Cynthia Crutchfield, CEO of Innovate Alabama. “Through our SEEK AL activation at the Inc. Founders House, we’re not just showcasing Alabama as a place to build a business – we’re showing founders from across the country and around the world what it means to build a life here. Innovation and quality of life go hand in hand, and by partnering with Inc., we’re ensuring Alabama’s startup ecosystem is part of the national conversation.”

SXSW has long been a proving ground for the next big ideas in tech, entertainment and entrepreneurship. With thousands of founders, investors and industry leaders converging in Austin, Alabama’s presence at the conference reinforces its emergence as a rising hub for innovation in the Southeast.