Accelerator Frankfurt GmbH’s Post

Have you heard of the Female Founders Night yet? The Female Founders Night is a student-led initiative that was founded by students from Zeppelin University. Our goal is to motivate and inspire people to pursue their own entrepreneurial journeys, as diverse perspectives foster creativity, innovation and success in the entrepreneurial landscape. Our aim is to create a dynamic platform for constructive exchange and networking together with many impressive speakers from a wide range of industries. Why is the FFN important? Founders are essential to economic growth, job creation, innovation and progress in our economy. Yet, women still remain underrepesented in startups. The Female Founders Night aims to change this, boosting Germany's global competitiveness. #startups #femalefoundersnight #entrepreneurship

🌟 Exciting Opportunity for Female Founders! 🌟 Are you a female entrepreneur with a visionary startup, ready to scale new heights but facing challenges in securing investment? The Female Founders Initiative Switzerland has something special for you: Introducing the FF+ Acceleration Program, exclusively designed to propel female-founded startups towards investment readiness. 🚀 About the Program: 6-week journey blending in-person (Zurich) and online sessions. Tailored to equip you with skills in investment proposition, financial insights, pitch refinement, legal readiness, investor relations, and much more. Culminates in a Demo Day, presenting your startup to potential investors. Absolutely free for participants, with a success fee model aligning with your fundraising success. 📌 Criteria: Open to startups with at least 50% female founding members. Must be based in Switzerland, with an MVP/Proof of Concept, not older than 3 years, and have an innovative, scalable idea. 💡 This is more than an acceleration program; it’s a commitment to bridging the gap in access to risk capital for women in business. Organized by Female Founders Initiative Switzerland, in collaboration with STARTUP CAMPUS Switzerland and Impact Hub Zürich, we're here to ensure your groundbreaking ideas receive the spotlight and support they deserve. 📣 Apply Now to be one of the 8 exclusive startups embarking on this transformative journey. Let's shatter ceilings and pave the way for a future where female founders are celebrated and supported across the entrepreneurial landscape. More info and registration here: https://lnkd.in/dg_aX_Hx Marcela Durand Vanessa Mohrig Merle Zur Lorena Perrin Kreis Matthias Filser Linda Aerne Eliane Albrecht Johanna Windisch Simone Uster Simone Wolf Kølle #FemaleFounders #FFPlusAcceleration #StartupFunding #WomenInBusiness #Innovation #SwissStartups #InvestmentReadiness

🚀 Exploring Women Entrepreneurs' Experiences in the Berlin Entrepreneurial Ecosystem 🏙 #Berlin is known as Germany's #startup hub, and according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2024, is one of the top 20 startup ecosystems in the world. The city is particularly strong in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence and health. However, there is a significant #GenderGap in Germany's startup scene. According to the Female Founders Monitor 2022, only 20% of startups in Germany are founded by women, with many of these startups based in Berlin. In the WeEco Project, we're digging deeper into these statistics through a German case study focusing on the Berlin ecosystem. By exploring the lived experiences of #WomenEntrepreneurs, we're uncovering the challenges they face, the strategies they employ and how gender intersects with factors such as age, family status, race and migration experience.    🔍 Stay tuned for our findings and insights on how we can work toward a more #inclusive entrepreneurial landscape!     #EntrepreneurialEcosystems #Entrepreneurship #GenderEquality #Intersectionality

🌟 Proud to be part of FemupStartups Germany! 🌟 We are very proud to be an official partner of FemupStartups Germany, which aims to create more visibility for female founders and promote networking with female investors. Together with Startup-Champs Germany and the Hamburg Investors Network, we are working to increase the proportion of female startup founders and investors in Germany. 🌐 About the campaign: FemupStartups is a joint initiative of the startup hotspots Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich, represented by Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, Hamburg Invest, KölnBusiness – the Economic Development Agency of Cologne, MUNICH STARTUP and ONE MISSION. Our aim is to build a Germany-wide network for female founders and investors and to take targeted measures to promote the proportion of female founders and investors. ℹ️ Let's go !  On June 06, the final of the Female StartAperitivo Pitch Competition will take place in Hamburg. The Hamburg semi-final will be held on May 15th, 2024, at the Proberaum Oberhafen. The ten selected female founders will each have four minutes to pitch their startup and their investment needs. The audience, along with our panel of experts, will decide who advances to represent Hamburg in the finals in June. 👉 Apply now here https://lnkd.in/gNQsMMxf (Deadline Apr 12, 2024, 11:55 PM) 👉 For all those who want to attend as guests and vote for their favorite, sign up here: https://lnkd.in/evEgVxRb #startupcityhamburg  #FemupStartups #ONEmission #StartupChampsGermany #FemaleFounders #Investors

🚀 Exciting Roundtable Discussion on Improving Funding for Underrepresented Founders in the UK 🌍 In collaboration with Startup Coalition 🤝 We brought together a diverse group of underrepresented founders, all passionate about addressing the funding gap in the UK startup ecosystem. In our latest report, just 11% of VC funding rounds went to Global Majority Heritage founders (Black, South Asian, East Asian and Middle Eastern UK founders), from 2013-2023, compared to their 18% representation in the UK population and 40% representation in London where the majority of venture investments are made. 🌟 Our aim was clear: to kickstart a proactive conversation about how we can collectively enhance funding opportunities specifically for underfunded and underrepresented founders based in the UK 🇬🇧 The energy in the room was electric as founders shared their experiences, challenges, and visions for a more inclusive entrepreneurial landscape. 💡 We explored innovative ideas, best practices, and potential solutions to bridge the funding divide. This event is just the beginning 🚀 More work lies ahead, but initiating this dialogue is a crucial step in the right direction. By fostering an open and collaborative environment, we are paving the way for positive change! 🌐 Let's continue to champion diversity and inclusion in the startup ecosystem. Together, we can create a more equitable future for all entrepreneurs. Special thanks to the founders who shared their stories: Ria Chakrabarti, Kevin Tang, Kunmi Oludoyi, Vanessa Chiedza Sanyauke, Paul Watts, Sade Amale, Peter Monteza, Rayan Bannai and Joy Mpofu. #DiversityInTech #StartupEcosystem #InclusiveInnovation #FundingForAll #UnderrepresentedFounders #UKStartupScene

🎣 Is it hard to be the jury of a pitch competition? Think about it... 🧨 Limited time: The jury often has minimal time to grade startups. This leaves little to no room for market research or competitor analysis. 🚀 Different stages: Startups in pitch competitions vary in their growth stages. From early-stage ideas to more mature ventures, the jury must normalize these differences swiftly to ensure fair comparisons within minutes. 🤝 First impressions?: Initial perceptions can influence judging outcomes. In the actual ecosystem, the jury may already be familiar with some presenting startups. Maintaining impartiality is challenging but essential for fairness. 🔮 Limited information: Beyond current performance metrics, the task is to identify future potential and scalability. It requires forecasting the startup's trajectory based on limited information. I was invited to be part of the jury for the pitch competition at the #PeruFintechForum2024, an event organized each year by the Asociación Fintech del Perú, and witnessed the dedication and innovation that startups are bringing to the finance sector. It was a closely contested battle (like every pitch competition I've been part of the jury so far!), but after careful deliberation, we selected the deserving winners.🏆 Kambia (Platanus 23-1), KidsBook , TuCambio, Preauth. Congratulations to all the startups that participated! 💪 *It was really cool that many women went to the event; hopefully, more female founders soon!

SIBB-Incubator Alumni and entrepreneur Rachel Pregun and her funding story of a VC-backed startup was with us in January, and we started the Ask Female Founders Event series in 2024 at the SIBB Incubator Space. The entrepreneur who had launched HeyDay, a startup in the HR environment, and who successfully secured two rounds of funding at the time, opened up to our community and answered more than 50 questions. The interesting twist: at while ago, she needed to shut down this venture and today, she is a successful founder again with her new startup project b. So Rachel has a lot to tell, and we are humbled that she came to visit us and share her insights with our community. Moderator Urte Zahn hold the space well and created a special atmosphere, allowing a lot of questions to be asked without fear - all questions were valued as equal and as valuable for the community. Everyone was so quiet you could hear a needle fall - obviously, everyone did not want to miss any of Rachels Answers. When people left, we looked into a lot of happy faces, obviously tremendously motivated, although Rachel shared a story of a startup that in the end did not work out. However, her success story of getting funding, finding product-market fit and being a founder with a strong vision was very inspiring for our community. And the fact that investors now value her experience is such a good information as well. "Ask Female Founders" is not just a platform for women but a welcoming community for everyone interested in entrepreneurship. Our vision is to break down barriers and create a space for candid discussions about entrepreneurship, fundraising, and business development. For more information and to join the "Ask Female Founders" events, follow the Ask Female Founders community on Eventbrite. Our next session with Liza Reichardt will be on the 9th of February. If you want to know more about the SIBB Incubator, please follow #SIBBStartups Gefördert durch das Berliner Startup Stipendium - finanziert durch das Land Berlin und die EU. #askfemalefounders #diversityintech #funding #vcstories #founderlife

EDIT: 15 winners selected but due to the overwhelming demand, giving out at least 10x more Looking for Nordic and Baltic female founders!!! To help boost investments into female founded startups, I want to invite 15 Nordic and Baltic female founders to Arctic15 Helsinki, June 6-7, as my guest. So please tag yourself or a friend in the comments, and I will select 15 winners to get a free ticket. Winners need to have a startup company already. Please nominate only ONE person per comment! Female-led companies are known to produce better returns, so it should be a no-brainer for the investor to have high appetite to invest. The afternoon of June 6th we will have very interesting and exciting stage session about building and scaling a diverse tech company. Panelists are Paula Schwarz, CEO, Cosmopolis.App, Af Malhotra, Founder & CEO, Diversity Economics AI, Laura Avonius, Founder & CEO, Audicin and Markus Räikkönen, CEO & Co-Founder of Forte, and moderated by Jeanette Carlsson from Tech Nordic Advocates. See you at the session. Thank you for your support! #startups #femalefounders #femaleentrepreneurs #investors #europe #actionmatters