This year, as we align with the UN’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’, we focus on the pivotal role of investment in female entrepreneurs to hasten advancements across sectors. Emphasizing the critical need for gender equality, this theme underscores the untapped potential in supporting women entrepreneurs and leaders in the technological and innovative domains.
Despite strides towards inclusivity, the tech industry still sees a glaring underrepresentation of women, with significant gaps in leadership roles, access to venture capital, and growth opportunities. The persistent imbalance is not only reflected in the startup ecosystem but also in the broader STEM fields, where women’s contributions are crucial yet often overlooked.
‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’ calls for collective action to empower women, ensuring they have equal access to funding, resources, and support to thrive in the digital age. It’s a move towards creating a more diverse, inclusive, and innovative future, recognizing the indispensable role women play in driving technological and societal advancement.
In celebration of this theme, today, we highlight 100 remarkable women in the European startup and VC landscape who exemplify the spirit of innovation, leadership, and progress. Their achievements not only contribute to the tech sector’s growth but also pave the way for future generations of women to succeed and lead.
Agate Freimane: General Partner of Norrsken VC the first impact VC in the Nordics, and among the first in Europe. Agate is a trailblazing woman in the VC space and is passionate about impact-focused startups. She started her career working in finance in London and New York, before co-founding the edtech charity Bright Mentors.
Alice Albizzati: Founding partner of Revaia, a Paris-based firm focused on European sustainable growth investment, partnering with mission-driven entrepreneurs. Alice has participated in the financing, structuring and oversight of more than 35 growth companies throughout her career. She also sits on the boards of Deepki and Hublo.
Alice Pelton: CEO and Co-Founder of The Lowdown, the world’s first review platform for contraception. It’s now the UK’s leading contraception and sexual and reproductive health platform, used by thousands of women every day to make informed decisions about their everyday health. The company is helping lead a new generation of period empowerment.
Aline Vedder: With a PhD in Neuroaesthetics, Aline is an investor with an impressive track record. She is Principal at LakeStar and previously worked with Munich-based Acton Capital Partners and Ananda Impact Ventures. She is passionate about impact investment, leveraging her knowledge of psychology and neuroscience to identify strong leaders and teams.
Alisée de Tonnac: Swiss entrepreneur who co-founded Seedstars World, a global startup competition covering 85+ emerging and developing markets. Alisée now serves as Seedstars World’s CEO, having been featured in Forbes, Le Monde and Wired.
Alix de Sagazan: Co-founder and CEO of AB Tasty, a global leader in feature management, experimentation and personalization solutions that enables companies to validate ideas, while maximizing impact, minimizing risk and accelerating time to market. She is also a board member of The Galion Project and an investor with Galion.exe and Side Capital.
Ana Barjasic: Entrepreneur, angel investor, and policy adviser. She established Connectology, a boutique agency specialising in finance access, investment readiness, and behavioural science. Among her significant roles, she serves as a Board Member of the European Innovation Council, advocating for entrepreneurs from Horizon Europe’s widening countries.
Angelica Kohlmann: She founded Bloom Diagnostics in 2018 to enable people to take control of their health through tech. After studying for her PhD in medicine, Angelica worked in cancer research before moving into the pharmaceutical industry and finally the VC space.
Anna Brailsford: Co-founder and CEO of Code First Girls a social enterprise dedicated to transforming tech by providing the skills, space and inspiration for women to become successful developers and future tech leaders. It’s made up of over 20k women, representing 58 nationalities.
Aude Guo: Co-founder of Innovafeed, a startup that picked up one of the largest funding rounds in 2022 with a female leader. Based in Paris, the company is reinventing how we approach nutrition by building a circular and zero-waste agri-food chain that reflects insects’ role in true, creating a new way of living with higher quality, sustainability and resilience.
Audrey Tsang: CEO of femtech superstar, Clue, Audrey was the CPO before taking on the shared responsibility of leading the company. Previously, Audrey led products and teams at Pinterest, HotelTonight, and Yelp. Founded in Berlin in 2013, Clue is taking the world by storm as the science-backed leader in femtech, helping over 12 million people.
Avent Bezuidenhoudt: CEO of Earth Capital, Avent is one of the UK’s leading water tech investors. She has over 25 years of experience in venture capital and is passionate about the sustainability sector. Before joining ECL, she was a Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, and an Assistant Director in the London Corporate Finance team at BDO UK.
BaoY Van Cong: Partner at Target Global, an international investment firm based in Berlin investing in European & Israeli tech companies. She is one of the leaders of the firm’s growth stage investment practice and focuses particularly on the edtech, consumer and software industries. She has participated in key deals such as Lepaya, Crisp and Elopage.
Carlota Pi Amoros: Co-founder and Executive President of cleantech Holaluz, voted the most valued energy company in Spain. Carlota has grown a diverse team of 700+ people over the last 12 years, with a 50/50 gender divide.
Caroline Noublanche: CEO and founder of Apricity, the world’s first virtual fertility startup. The app matches patients to world-class fertility experts and allows them to do as much of the IVF treatment from their homes as possible. Caroline works closely with some of the leading fertility researchers to better understand the factors affecting fertility.
Caroline Plumb: CEO of Gravita a full-service accounting firm offering expert financial advice to growing businesses across all sectors. She has Caroline has a track record of building and selling successful businesses having co-founded and sold the recruitment consultancy FreshMinds and then built the fintech business Fluidly, which was sold in 2021.
Celine Lazorthes: Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Resilience, a company dedicated to remote monitoring and support for oncology patients, with the mission of improving cancer care. She is also a founding member of France Digitale, an active business angel and a regular speaker on entrepreneurship and FinTech.
Charlotte Baumhauer: In her role as Investment Manager with SquareOne, Charlotte is actively backing European tech companies that are positively influencing the world through climate tech innovation. Prior to this role, she worked with McKinsey, where she was part of the operations practice.
Chelsea Slater: CEO of InnovateHer a school programme for 13-17-year-olds and consults with tech businesses on inclusivity. The vision is to equip young girls with the self-belief, confidence and skills to pursue a career in tech, whilst making the industry ready to take them on. Prior to this, she was the co-founder of Liverpool Girl Geeks.
Cindi Lindsborg: Head of Business Support and Business Development at Tyréns AB and previous Head of Scania Ventures. She is an experienced leader and management consultant, with a focus on strategy, digitization and innovation. She is especially experienced in approaching digital transformation and building strong, global teams.
Claire Novorol: Trained doctor, paediatrician and now co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Ada Health, a Berlin-based global health company built by doctors to improve human health by transforming knowledge into better outcomes. It’s now counting over 13 million users and is available to 60 million users in total, and conducted over 31 million assessments.
Clara Chappaz: Director at La French Tech, and part of the Ministry of Economy & Finance. Prior to this, she grew Vestiaire Collective into one of the most iconic circular economy fashion brands. In her current role, she is a key part of supporting the French startup ecosystem growth.
Clare Jones: CCO of what3words a geocoding system used by businesses and governments to operate more efficiently, and by individuals to find and share locations. She was featured in the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list for technology and is involved with London companies tackling social/environmental challenges.
Claudia de la Riva: Serial entrepreneur, and passionate about finding and building solutions that improve welfare, quality of life and the development of people. She is the current CEO of Apolo Kids which is an exciting edtech startup based in Barcelona. Launched in 2020, the company motivates children through internet-based autonomous and on-the-go learning.
Cristina Bentue: Co-founder and COO of IriusRisk, taking a small startup to a 150-strong team across three continents. She also is behind different initiatives and programmes to encourage more girls in STEM. An increasingly powerful voice in the cybersecurity space as both an entrepreneur and tech leader as well as a mentor.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill: Olympian turned into an entrepreneur. In 2019, she founded Jennis, a femtech startup aiming to improve knowledge around women’s health and training, drawing on her own experiences on the power of hormones and just how little women understand about their cycles.
Danila De Stefano: Founder and CEO of Unobravo, a company that is building an empathetic, clinically backed and accessible end-to-end platform for mental health. Founded in 2019, They are already market leaders in Italy with over 1 million sessions completed, over 2500 psychologists at work, more than 80K patients and over 120 employees.
Deepali Nangia: Part of the UK Government Taskforce for female entrepreneurs working on relevant changes to make it easier for female founders to get funding. She’s a previous partner at Speedinvest, with a focus on investing in underrepresented and underfunded founders. She also co-founded Alma Angels.
Diliara Lupenko: In 2019, Diliara co-founded Impress, the Nº1 chain of orthodontic clinics in Europe with the aim of digitalising clinical work and creating great orthodontic treatments with the patient at the core. It raised the largest Series B in Southern Europe of €123 million in 2022.
Dr Fiona Pathiraja: Partner at Crista Galli Ventures, a fund that invests in Seed and Series A stages in European health tech, has worked in the NHS for over 15 years. She has firsthand seen the need for innovation and tech-driven solutions to address mounting healthcare challenges. She is committed to promoting healthcare innovation.
Ekaterina Almasque: General Partner of OpenOccean VC, and a leading voice within European venture capital. She is on the board of IQM, the European leader for superconducting quantum computers, as well as several other companies. ‘Invest in Women NOW’ report calling for action from the European Commission.
Eleanor Kaye: Currently the Executive Director of Newton Venture Program, Eleanor is on a mission to level the playing field for people from typically overlooked backgrounds – ensuring that the next generation of venture investors represents the world we live in.
Erika de Santi: Co-founder & International Expansion Director of WeRoad, a Milan-based startup specialising in group adventure travel for millennials. It’s providing a service tailored to a generation that is often finding themselves travelling solo – but looking for hyper-connected, personalised and fun experiences. It’s one of Europe’s fastest-growing travel operators.
Eva-Valerie Gfrerer: Founded in 2020, Morphais is a firm based in Berlin and invests in exceptional founders, independent of their background. Morphais was launched by Eva to put the focus on the founder to build world-class companies. A behavioural scientist and entrepreneur at heart, fascinated by predicting human behaviour with data.
Fariha Shah: An angel and VC partner investor, a startup mentor, and diversity & inclusion ambassador (speaker and media contributor). Currently, Fariha is the Founder and CEO at SHAH Invest and Partner and investor with 50 Partners Impact. She was also the co-founder of Golden Bees.
Francesca James: Francesca is the founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and community. With a background in publishing and events, Francesca is passionate about telling the stories of entrepreneurs to support and champion their endeavours. Founded in 2013, they acknowledge the hard work and inspiring stories of entrepreneurs.
Geraldine MacCarthy: CCRO at Personio and an international business leader with impressive experience building and scaling global companies. She’s a key part of this company’s impressive growth and becoming Europe’s most valuable HR tech company.
Grace Beverley: CEO and Founder of TALA and SHREDDY, and a renowned podcast host. At 23, she topped Forbes’ 30 under 30 in retail and e-commerce, ranked 26th among influential online creators by The Sunday Times, and was featured in Glamour with Emma Watson and Rihanna as one of ‘the 10 amazing multi-hyphenates to be inspired by’
Hélène Falchier: Partner at Portage Ventures, Hélène is an early-stage investor dedicated to backing the next generation of innovative, impact-driven companies, particularly in the financial sector. Hélène has been influencing the fintech space during her distinguished career, helping empower more female representation in this space.
Hélène Huby: Founder of The Exploration Company, one of Europe’s fastest-growing space tech companies, and former Head of Innovation at Airbus Defence and Space. Founded in 2021 her startup has already secured €47.3 million aiming to shape sustainable, scalable, and affordable space journeys made in Europe.
Inka Mero: Inka is the founder and managing partner at Voima Ventures, a Finnish deep tech fund that’s on a mission to solve the big global challenges humankind is facing through science, entrepreneurship and capital. Inka is passionate about purpose-driven startups and how they are using digital tech to shape a better future.
Itxaso del Palacio: General Partner at Notion, a top European B2B SaaS VC, previously served as an Investment Partner for M12 in Europe. Her notable investments include Yulife (life insurance), Orus (SMB insurance), Bound.co (currency risk management), Onfido (identity verification) and Beamery (recruitment CRM).
Jacqueline Ruedin Rüsch: Founder and CEO of Privilège Management SA, a wealth management firm, also initiated Privilège Ventures SA to back entrepreneurs. She then started the Privilège Student Ventures Initiative, an academic year program educating students to become venture capital investors or entrepreneurs.
Jacqueline van den Ende: Entrepreneur and investor. She founded Carbon Equity in 2021, a fintech platform that recently raised over €100 million seeking to power the world’s most impactful climate technology solutions with retail capital. Previously she was a partner at Peak Capital and an investor at HAL Investments.
Jane Reddin: Partner, Platform and Talent director at AlbionVC. Based in London, AlbionVC is helping to build the future of enterprise and healthcare. Jane helps invest in the best founders by assessing their leadership potential and advises the leadership teams to support and accelerate the rapid organisational scaling of companies.
Janneke Niessen: Founding Partner at CapitalT, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, board member and diversity advocate. Her expertise lies at the crossroads of technology, talent, investing and diversity. She is a prominent board member for several organisations and is often called upon by the government for advice.
Jenny Saft: Co-founder of Apryl, an employee fertility benefits platform that enables companies to support employees on their path to parenthood. Jenny also operates as an investor with Nucleus Capital and Atomico, looking to support impact-driven ventures. Previous to this, she worked with the likes of Adyen and Fyber.
Jessica Holzbach: Founder & CEO of Pile, the first Neo Treasury in Europe. It offers treasury products for high-growth startups to make the most of their money, keep it safe, and diversify across multiple banking solutions. She is also a board member at Fürstlich Castell’sche Bank and an occasional angel investor.
Joanna Torngren Redebran: She turned her curiosity for investment into a business idea, aiming to facilitate growth across Sweden’s tech ecosystem when she founded Nyfikna in 2021. The firm is becoming one of Sweden’s most impactful business-angel networks aiming to support early-stage startups.
Julia Bijaoui: Founder at Frichti a food delivery success story. The Paris-based startup handles everything from cooking to order to delivery and has secured over €43 million to date. Prior to embarking on his entrepreneurial experience, she was the Strategy and Operating manager for Birchbox and a business developer with JolieBox.
Julia Hawkins: General Partner at LocalGlobe & Latitude. She takes a particular interest in health, creative industries, mobility and fintech. She has backed companies such as Yulife, Vira and Fertility. Currently working with LocalGlobe and Latitude, she seeks to leave a positive impact and finds healthcare to be her number one priority.
Karoli Hindriks: Founder at Jobbatical. In 2020 she was named by the EU Council as one of the 8 most inspiring women in Europe. founded her first company at 16, officially becoming the youngest inventor in her native Estonia. She also led the launch of seven television channels in Northern Europe, including National Geographic Channels and MTV.
Katrina Walker: After working as a data scientist in both the public and corporate sectors, Karina launched CodeOp, a venture-backed social venture focused on addressing the gender disparity in tech through technical training and game-changing partnerships with local and regional governments as well as NGOs and corporates.
Kerry Baldwin: Managing Partner of IQ Capital, a deep tech early-stage VC based in Cambridge and London. She co-founded IQ Capital in 2006 and is one of the UK’s most experienced VC investors with over 24 years of deep tech venture capital experience. She joined Venture Technologies in 1998, investing in the first wave of UK deep-tech companies.
Kristina Walcker-Mayer: CEO and former CPO of Nuri. Prior to that, she led product teams for customer-facing mainstream products. Kristina has extensive career experience and knowledge in building up mobile strategies and creating innovative mobile solutions for major clients in the retail, television, NGO and automotive industries.
Laura Urquizu: CEO and President of Red Points. In 2020, Laura was named one of the 100 Leaders Transforming Business by Business Insider and among the most creative people by FORBES. Previously Laura Urquizu held executive and management positions at Arthur Andersen, Caja Navarra & CAN Corporation.
Lena Hackelöer: Founder & CEO at Brite Payments a fast-growing second-generation challenger in the European payment space. Allowing consumers to make payments using their bank account, Brite employs state-of-the-art open banking technology to process instant payments and payouts across Europe across a wide range of verticals.
Leila Maidane: Founder of Femmes Fieres and Founder & CEO of InterSkillar. She has also contributed to the WEgate Thematic Group on the ‘digital & green transition of women entrepreneurs’. Leila has dedicated her career to helping women start and expand meaningful businesses.
Lina Chong: Lina joined Target Global in 2018 and is one of the leaders driving early-stage investments. She specializes in the growing areas of SaaS, Consumer Products and Web 3.0, and has worked with some big names in Europe’s startup ecosystem including TravelPerk, Fresha, Bloom and Kippah.
Lina Zakarauskaite: Former Principal at Stride.vc and Head of Growth at Secret Escapes, is a leading supporter of health tech startups. With a strong belief in health tech’s potential, she advocates for the NHS and public health and sees blockchain as a solution to global healthcare crises.
Linnéa Kornehed Falck: Co-founder, Deputy CEO, CMO, and Board Director at Einride, champions sustainable shipping solutions through technology including digital, electric, and autonomous systems. As part of the World Economic Forum’s tech innovators community, she aims to speed up the shift towards clean and resilient technology.
Lisa Barclay: Executive Director of Nesta Impact Investments, has over 20 years of experience growing businesses as an investor, advisor, and manager. With a passion for impact investing, her career includes roles as COO of Social Finance, Assistant Director at Bridges Ventures, and Co-Founder of EGS Group.
Lisa Carter: Founder of the bootstrapped startup Discussion Box in Bristol, which specializes in uniting high-level stakeholders for impactful conversations with global brands. As the only black woman-owned business in its sector. Beyond leading Discussion Box, Lisa is the creative force behind the jewellery brand NIKAO.
Lubomila Jordanova: Founder and CEO of Plan A, leads a science-backed, AI-driven SaaS platform specializing in business carbon accounting, decarbonization, and ESG reporting. A staunch sustainability advocate, she also co-founded the Greentech Alliance, connecting over 3,000 Greentech companies with more than 500 VCs, media, and experts.
Luciana Lixandru: Partner at Sequoia Captial, Luciana partners with impactful European founders who are pioneering impactful change. She has invested in Series A at UiPath, Series A at Miro, Series B at Deliveroo, seed stage at Hopin, seed level at Tessian and more. Luciana has also been a Board Member for companies such as Miro, Tessian and UiPath.
Lucile Cornet: Partner at Eight Roads, Lucile is an impactful investor backing promising companies, particularly in the fitness and SaaS sectors. She has an extensive career in the investment space and is currently backing companies like Reveal, Amenitiz, Spendesk, Interaction and Fuse Universal.
Lupina Iturriaga: Advocating for the inclusion of passionate and visionary individuals to create dynamic teams, Lupina founded Fintonic in 2012. Lupina is also the co-founder of senior expert and Councillor at the Startups Institute.
Manon Sarah Littek: Founding General Partner at the Green Generation Fund. Manon is passionate about growing impactful ventures in the food tech and green tech spaces. She has been an active investor in shaping the food revolution across Europe and currently works with Upfield, Change Foods, Lypid and The Rainforest Company.
Marcia Kilgore: Founder of Beauty Pie, a startup revolutionizing the beauty industry. Since its inception in 2016, Beauty Pie has focused on delivering high-quality beauty products, fostering self-worth, and teaching women to claim their deserved success. Having secured over $100 million, Marcia has become a pivotal figure in the entrepreneurial world.
Margo Polishchuk: Margo is the co-founder and President of proSapient, a primary research and expert networking service for institutional investors, consultants, and corporate clients around the world. The firm aims to deliver actionable intelligence and relevant experts to clients, giving them an edge to reach their commercial ambitions.
Marie-Helene Ametsreiter: A distinguished figure in business and venture capital, currently a General Partner at Speedinvest, leading the Industrial tech team. She advocates for diversity in the EU startup and VC sectors, supporting innovative companies like Greyparrot, Fernride, and CELUS.
Mariya Gabriel: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. Previous European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth since 2019. She was responsible for EU policies related to Horizon Europ, research and innovation, the Erasmus+ programme, education, culture and sport.
Melanie Gabriel: Melanie is the co-founder and former CMO of Yokoy, a Swiss fintech that leverages AI to automate corporate expense, invoice and credit card processes of midsize and large enterprises. She is a board member at the startup Moodtalk, advisor and business angel.
Merit Valdsalu: One of the early employees at Pipedrive as Head of Localization, is now bringing disruptive solutions for corporate environmental action with Single.Earth. Founded in 2019, Single.Earth aims to make sustainable forest and land management the new standard.
Mette Lykke: The visionary founder of TooGoodToGo, a leading sustainability app that fights against food waste by partnering with supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries, and hotels to redistribute surplus food. Leading a team of over 400 Waste Warriors, Mette’s impactful work follows her success.
Michaela Jeffery-Morrison: As the Founder and CEO of Ascend Global Media, is pioneering new paths for women in tech. Through Ascend Global Media, she fosters connections between businesses and talent, focusing on empowering women and girls to enter and excel in the technology sector.
Miriam Wohlfarth: A serial entrepreneur, she established one of Germany’s pioneering fintech firms, Ratepay, a payment service provider. In 2020, she launched her latest venture, Banxware, which is transforming the European lending industry by enabling platforms to provide banking products.
Montse-Suarez: Founder of IRIS Ventures, Montse is an experienced industry expert with a distinguished career in the VC, private equity and investment banking industries on a global level. She previously founded Vaultier7, a consumer-focussed private equity firm that’s backed success stories like French fashion unicorn Vestiaire Collective.
Namrata Sandhu: Co-founder and CEO of Vaayu, a startup that is helping retailers track and cut their carbon emissions. She has over 17 years of international experience building, developing and implementing sustainability strategies across companies – focusing on climate change, carbon emissions, human rights, ESG reporting and ethical supply chains.
Nana Addison: Founder and CEO at Styleindi & CURL CON. Her firms provide inclusive solutions for the cosmetics and beauty tech sector. Nana advocates for diversity, inclusivity, and equity in the industry. Her newly launched brand, Ancient, made her the first Black Woman in Germany to secure tech VC funding in beauty.
Niamh Sterling: Investment Consultant for HBAN, Ireland’s largest angel network. With over 20 years of experience, she has a proven track record in evaluating business viability and scaling companies into successful entities. Additionally, Niamh co-founded and directed Interact and H2O Solutions, both of which were acquired by Bidvest in 2021.
Nicola McClafferty: Partner at Molten Ventures and a board member for several startups, is also the founder of Covetique, a curated online marketplace for pre-owned luxury fashion. Her prior roles include serving as an investor at Ravensbeck and Balderton Capital, where she focused on cross-platform media and e-commerce.
Nora Bavey: General Partner at Unconventional Ventures, an Impact fund focused on early-stage impact tech companies built by diverse founders in Europe. She is also the co-founder of the UV Accelerator, an 8-week digital program aimed at supporting tech startups by underrepresented founders in the Nordics, focusing on sustainable business growth.
Nikita Thakrar: Co-Founder & CEO of Included VC, pioneers the first global, fully funded Fellowship targeting diverse and often marginalised communities, aiming to democratise access to the venture capital industry through education and opportunities. In three years, nearly single-handedly, Nikita established a globally recognized brand.
Paulina Jänsch: Founding partner at Leanox Impact Capital, champions sustainability startups and female empowerment. Leanox focuses on purpose-driven innovators seeking impact beyond profit. An active mentor, Paulina aims to attract more women investors and achieve gender parity in the startup scene with Leanox’s latest fund.
Rachel Delacour: A prominent figure in European tech, founded Sweep in 2020 to combat climate change. Sweep, a B2B software, helps companies manage and reduce their carbon footprint. Previously, she co-founded BIME Analytics, acquired by Zendesk, and serves as a business angel and board member for various US and French startups.
Raja Skogland: An angel investor in over 70 startups, has advised thousands of founders since 2015. In 2020, she founded The Visionary Company, providing founders with resources to boost their fundraising and scaling efforts. Previously, she was CEO at TheFactory, a leading accelerator in Norway, and launched thehub.io in 2016.
Roberta Lucca: Roberta is the co-founder and CMO of Bossa Studios, angel investor and keynote speaker on the future of games, entrepreneurship and leadership. BOSSA is a BAFTA-winning independent games developer and publisher based in London. Driven by creativity, it takes a community approach to content and game development.
Roxanne Varza: Director of Station F, a worldwide startup campus based in Paris. She’s also a scout for Sequoia Capital, and a board member of NRJ Groupe and Le Fonds pour l’Indépendance de la Presse. Among her previous roles, Roxanne led Microsoft’s startup activities in France and co-founded Tech.eu.
Sana Afouaiz: An award-winning gender expert, advocate for women, public speaker, the person behind Womenpreneur, and author of “Invisible Women of the Middle East”. Sana has advised entities like the United Nations and the European Commission on gender issues and co-founded Womenquake, a movement challenging and re-examining gender notions.
Sara Resvik: Sara is an experienced early-stage investor and leader with experience from BackingMinds, Industrifonden, Schibsted and Axel Johnson. Founded in 2016, BackingMinds was built on the thesis that the next unicorn will come from looking to the overlooked parts of Europe’s startup ecosystem. It recently closed a fund of €50 million.
Sarah Barber: CEO of Jenson Funding Partners, Sarah was part of the team responsible for creating the first Jenson SEIS Fund in 2012, to help startups raise capital through the scheme. She has been instrumental in the growth of the fund, leading the team in fundraising, deployment and managing the portfolio of investee companies.
Selma Prodanovic: The “Startup-Grande-Dame,” is a distinguished speaker, investor, and advisor. She’s the Vice President of EBAN, founder of 1MillionStartups, and initiator of the EBAN Gender Balanced Investing Manifesto. Over 20 years, she’s significantly influenced Europe’s startup and angel investing ecosystem.
Shrestha Chowdhury: Co-Founder and CTO at Razor, a Berlin-based unicorn. Shrestha moved to Berlin in 2020 from New Delhi, where she led technology and analytics functions at various e-commerce startups, including as Chief Technology and Product Officer at leading Indian e-commerce fashion-tech company StalkBuyLove.
Simone Brummelhuis: Founding Partner and Fund Director at the Borski Fund, a VC fund investing in technology leaders and diversity. Simone is a supervisory board member of Royal Schiphol Group, Rabo Amsterdam and Media Huis Nederland. She previously founded The Next Women, providing access to capital, programs, resources and networks for women.
Sophie Hersan: Co-founder and Fashion Director of Vestiaire Collective, the leading global online marketplace for preloved fashion. It counts over 23 million buyers and sellers and has a global reach with offices in Paris, London, Berlin NY, Hong Kong and beyond. Sophie founded the firm in 2009 and is passionate about creating a more sustainable future.
Talia Rafaeli: General Partner at KOMPAS, an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on investing in startups that will lead the digital transformation and sustainability revolutions in major industry verticals. She backs ambitious founders who develop technology to transform buildings into more sustainable and healthy spaces.
Tugce Bulut: The founder and CEO of Streetbees, Tugce is passionate about the power of data and its positive impact. Before StreetBees, she was a strategy consultant advising technology and consumer companies on how to accelerate growth. Founded in 2015, Streetbees has now raised over $50 million for its AI-powered customer intelligence platform.
Vivienne Hsu: With over 20 years of strategic communications expertise in B2B and B2C organizations, she is the co-founder and CEO of Anasbasis Partners and a Founding Member of Chief. Hsu also mentors in the fintech sector, focusing on advancing women to leadership positions and enhancing their skills and influence.
Yonca Braeckman: Founder and CEO of Impact Shakers, fosters societal and environmental solutions through inclusive entrepreneurship. Committed to mission-driven initiatives and supporting underrepresented founders, she contributes to diversifying the Belgian and European tech ecosystems and mentors startups and entrepreneurs.
Yvonne Bajela: Partner at LocalGlobe, and previous founding Member and Principal at Impact X Capital, a UK-based venture capital fund founded to invest in companies led by underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe. Recognized by ‘Forbes 30 Under 30′ in 2020, she has invested over $250 million in startups around the globe.
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