Hintzsche named to Inc.’s eighth annual Female Founders list, among top business leaders

DIXON – Inc., the leading media brand and playbook for entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping the future, announced its eighth annual Female Founders list, including PherDal Fertility Science CEO and founder Jennifer Hintzsche of Dixon.

According to a news release, the annual list honors a group of 500 women whose innovations and ideas are leading their industries forward – resilient entrepreneurs who have expressed grit and drive to collectively attract about $9 billion in 2024 revenue and $10.6 billion in funding.

Each year, Inc. editors review thousands of applications highlighting female founders who are challenging the status quo and tackling the world’s biggest problems. They cull applicants through three rounds of judging, looking specifically at an entrepreneur’s bona fides in the past year.

Criteria include quantifiable metrics such as revenue, sales, growth, funding and audience size. Inc. also looks for qualitative metrics, including social media momentum and impact stories.

The founders span all industries and bring success stories from each stage of the entrepreneurial journey – from startup to going public, being acquired by big buyers, or spending decades at the helm of an organization.

Hintzsche founded PherDal Fertility Science after she was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Refusing to accept the diagnosis and armed with a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, Hintzsche found a noninvasive option – intracervical insemination – that has the same live birth rate as intrauterine insemination when done sterilely in the clinic but with no at-home option available. As a result, Hintzsche invented a science-backed, 100% sterile, at-home insemination kit, which resulted in the birth of her daughter and led her to create the PherDal Fertility Kit to help other women conceive.

The PherDal Kit was named among Time’s 2024 Best Inventions and also was honored as a 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards finalist in the health and medtech category.

“The Inc. 2025 Female Founders 500 list includes women from leading industries that are changing the world, and I’m deeply honored to be in their company,” Hintzsche said. “My idea for a safe at-home IUI alternative was born from 16 months of infertility, tears and frustration while being told I might never be a mother. Today, I tuck my two kids in at night due to the PherDal Fertility Kit I invented.

“I am far from unique, however. One in 5 women are currently struggling to get pregnant – often in silence – just like I did. To everyone fighting infertility: I see you. I invented PherDal because you deserve a safe, science-backed, affordable fertility care option you can try at home first.”

The PherDal Fertility Kit is the only FDA-cleared kit that combines the sterility of the fertility clinic with the privacy and comfort of at-home insemination. The PherDal Fertility Kit bridges the gap between traditional conception and more invasive and more expensive options such as IUI and IVF, which typically start at $10,000 per treatment for an IUI and reach upward of $50,000 per treatment for IVF, making fertility treatment and the chance of bearing children out of reach for those without insurance or financial means.

“Female founders know what struggle is, but they’re also experts of improvisation, adaptability and creativity,” Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom said. “The women featured on this year’s list exemplify these qualities. Through times of uncertainty, their unwavering dedication and steadfast leadership are not only inspiring but vital to driving progress.”

Several honorees are featured in Inc. magazine’s Female Founders issue, which is on newsstands now.