Pamplona, November 22, 2023 — Sploro, innovation consultancy based in Spain, together with TechUkraine, the Startup Wise Guys accelerator and Business Angels Europe have launched EmpoWomen program.
This project, funded by the European Union through its Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program, seeks to overcome the obstacles faced by women in the field of R&D&I to improve equality in deep-tech entrepreneurship.
Despite consistent growth in the business world, women remain substantially underrepresented as entrepreneurs, particularly in Europe. In the deep-tech sector, currently valued at €700 billion, women account for only 10% of patent applications, and less than 15% of startups are founded or co-founded by women.
EmpoWomen offers a unique program for scaling up women-led companies with the objective to create an exclusive support program for female founders and entrepreneurs leading deep-tech startups from widening-area countries* to grow into tomorrow’s female tech leaders and put women at the forefront of deep-tech in the world.
The initiative EmpoWomen is a 2-year program (2024-2025) which consists of a unique acceleration and mentoring program, and includes non-repayable funding totaling 1.125 million euros, prizes and services to 25 women-led deep-tech companies selected through a competitive process from European emerging markets and the outermost regions and Associated EU countries.*
Sploro, TechUkraine, Business Angels Europe and Startup Wise Guys, all together with 8 startup associations will run this innovative program which will be the first to support deep-tech women-led companies. The selected women-led businesses will each have access to a 6-month program consisting of a dedicated acceleration and investment readiness support service by SWG, webinars and events, together with specialist training and mentoring from Business Angels, combined with Demo days and direct connections with both Angel Investors and VCs, offering the potential to access investment.
Pre-registration: https://bit.ly/EmpoWOMEN
Social media of the program:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/empowomen-program/
https://www.facebook.com/empowomen.program/
https://twitter.com/empo_women
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Sploro is an innovation advisory firm with long experience in managing open innovation programmes and funds to support third parties internationally.
TechUkraine is a platform focused on supporting Ukraine’s fast-growing tech ecosystem. It drives the cooperation of ecosystem leaders, government officials, business partners to further support Tech and to spread the word.
Business Angels Europe (BAE) is the European Confederation of Angel Investing, representing the European Business Angels, Federations and Trade associations in Europe.
Startup Wise Guys is a leading accelerator and investment fund in Europe. With their origins in Estonia, they have managed to run over 35+ programs and to generate an international community of founders from over 60 countries and an established market in Europe and Africa.
EmpoWOMEN, operating within the framework of the HORIZON-CSA action and falling under the call designation HORIZON-EIC-2022-STARTUPEU-01, is a project funded by the European Commission under grant agreement number 101120693. This initiative is dedicated to supporting startups led by women in Europe, providing equity-free funding and vouchers for mentorship, business angel investment, and participation in tech summits. The primary goal of EmpoWOMEN is to promote gender equality and diversity in entrepreneurship, contributing to economic growth and innovation in Europe.
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Widening Countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.
Outermost regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), Canary Islands (Spain), Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France).
Associated countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
