Women Who Tech, which showcases and funds women-led ventures around the world, has selected 10 finalists for the Women Startup Challenge Europe. Hundreds of female-led startups from 35 countries competed for the chance to pitch to top investors and tech leaders. The final 10 will compete at an event co-hosted by the Office of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo at Paris City Hall on Oct. 25, 2018.
A total of $60,000 in cash grants will be awarded to the winning startups, and a $25,000 cash grant will be awarded by Mozilla for the product that best incorporates privacy and transparency.
“We’ve seen a rise in the number of women-led startups across Europe, yet the latest data shows that only 10% of investor funding in the EU goes to women-led ventures,” said Allyson Kapin, Founder of Women Who Tech in a statement. “We’ve built a pipeline of over 2,000 women-led startups to provide investors with direct access to the best early-stage women-led startups.”
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A 2015 report in Fortune revealed that woman-led companies drove 3X the returns compared to S&P 500 enterprises run predominantly by men. “We’ve got to invest in diverse perspectives and close this gap,” said Craig Newmark in a statement. Newmark is an advisor to Women Who Tech and the Founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
The Women Startup Challenge Europe Finalists are:
• DEKO EKO (Poland) — An upcycling platform that works with designers globally to create well-designed consumer products out of carefully selected waste materials from the largest companies and brands.
• Enterprise Bot (Switzerland) — Develops AI-powered chatbots to automate customer interactions and provide enterprises with a readily accessible digital agent to improve customer experience and create operational efficiency for companies.
• INOREVIA (France) — Develops and commercializes a new generation of patented technologies that miniaturize lab instrument volumes for analysis. This technology drastically reduces costs, time and manipulation necessary to perform next-generation bioassays and precision medicine.
• NOVA (Germany) — A Bluetooth headset that can be integrated into earrings with a built-in speaker and microphone.
• ObjectBox (Germany) — A high-performance NoSQL, ACID-compliant on-device database for mobile and IoT.
• Sampson Solutions, Ltd. (England) — Creating bio-based construction materials from sustainable sources using a closed-loop, carbon neutral manufacturing process.
• SonicJobs (England) — A virtual recruiter for blue-collar recruitment that uses chatbots combined with occupational psychology and AI, which screen and select the right job candidates in real time.
• TRIK (England) — A Google map for structural inspection that turns photos from drones into digital 3D models. Users can make comments, take measurements, and compare changes directly from the time-lapse 3D models.
• Vitrue Health (England) — A system that sits in the background of clinical assessments, autonomously measuring motor function metrics, freeing clinicians to focus on more complex patient interactions, saving millions in health care costs.
• Vouchery.io (Germany) — A predictive coupon, discount, and loyalty automation platform that optimizes promotional strategy for customer engagement while preventing coupon fraud.
