In an article written in April by our CEO Valentina Loisi, we anticipated the news on Women TechEU and all the other initiatives the European Commission is taking to offer first-class coaching and mentoring to female founders of deep tech companies in Europe.
The need to bring down the barriers that still prevent many women in Europe to embrace entrepreneurship and a career in tech is today more relevant and urgent than ever. Just earlier this week, the EIC has announced that out of the about 800 Step 2 EIC Accelerator applications received on the first cut-off of this year, only 17.5% came from women-led companies.
Now that the Women TechEU programme is about to be launched, the EIC has announced a significant novelty:
As part of the programme, 50 female founders will be awarded a grant of €75,000 as financial support for their companies.
The grant complements the other services provided by the EIC to support women in deep tech, namely:
- Mentoring and coaching provided by the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS), under the new “Women Leadership Programme”, which include dedicated networking and pitching events,
- The possibility to participate in dedicated activities organised by InvestEU and Enterprise Europe Network.
The programme will be launched in its pilot phase on July 13, 2021. The deadline for applications will be November 10, 2021.
More information can be found on the official EIC press release.
Alien Technology Transfer is already supporting tens of innovative startups to navigate the new funding opportunities under Horizon Europe. If you are interested in innovation funding opportunities in Europe, please, contact us today.
