Meet Michelle Kennedy - Founder and CEO of Peanut

Michelle Kennedy is the founder and CEO of Peanut, one of the fastest-growing social networking apps for women. Listed as Apple’s Trend of the Year 2021, TIME100’s Most Influential Companies 2022 and Fast Company’s Most Innovative 2023, Peanut has become a coveted destination for women looking to find friendship and support throughout all stages of motherhood.

The idea was born when Michelle  was expecting her first child in 2014. She realised that there weren’t any social networks for women to connect across key life stages. As the former deputy CEO of dating behemoth Badoo and an inaugural board member of Bumble, Kennedy understood how powerful online communities were. And so, true to the entrepreneurial core of founders, she decided to solve her need by creating a new kind of social network, where women could connect, chat and meet.

Having worked in social discovery for ten years, Michelle has unprecedented experience and understanding of the safety and growth components of building a social network for women and continues to execute on her mission to make Peanut the leading network to connect women when they need each other most. 

Michelle also runs her own fund StartHER where she is committed to challenging the biases in venture capital and giving everyone a fair chance by re-shaping funding dynamics, providing access to professional networks and ultimately, becoming home to the new faces of entrepreneurship. Michelle's investments include Linktree, Sunroom, Intimately, Lex and more.