Callisto

This grant hits so many of our areas of funding:

1) We like investing early in new ideas. Before #MeToo, this technology offered women safe, secure and comforting options regarding sexual assault.

2) After the Oscar-nominated documentary on campus sexual assault, The Hunting Ground (an HF grantee), there was an increase in awareness, activism, and demands for new ways to respond to sexual assault. Callisto was an experimental pioneer on college campuses. 

3) We could imagine this technology providing safe, smart support to people everywhere, not just on college campuses – but first the concept had to be proven. Today, Callisto’s proof-of-concept and successful expansion among campuses and elsewhere speaks for itself.

4) Remember what we said about investing in new ideas? One we invested in was the founding of the TED Fellows program. All these years later, TED Fellow Jessica Ladd is the founder of Sexual Health Innovations, now called Callisto. (We also love investing in promising leaders.)