firma.de is a proud partner of the Women Startup Competition (WSC) and female entrepreneurship at large!
We were heartened to see so many high-quality applicants from a diverse range of industries entering the Berlin leg of the competition. It was also great to discover so many female-led startups driven by technology-enabled innovation. Having more women starting tech businesses goes a long way to redefine how people view female entrepreneurship.
Find out the competition what’s what below.
What the WSC is:
The WSC is on a mission to change how underrepresented women are in business in Germany and beyond, by educating, supporting and inspiring women to start their own enterprises.
The WSC semi-final in Berlin is a pitching event for startups, where the majority of founders are women. This competition is a great opportunity for local women-led startups to express themselves, meet peers, gain invaluable experience, and find investors.
Who applied:
The WSC received 54 applications (44 from Germany and 10 from other countries) out of which WSC’s online jury selected 14 startups to participate in the Berlin semi-final pitch night.
It wasn’t an easy decision for the WSC panel of judges as there were so many great ideas from a diverse range of industries to choose from.
The industries:
Often the stereotypical female-run businesses are in health (especially female health), family, food, care and social enterprises. However, the WSC applicants show that brilliant female entrepreneurs work in much broader fields than what is often assumed.
Applicants came from a wide variety of industries, including e-commerce, health, medical devices, food, IoT, education, social enterprise, travel, fashion, automotive, transport, B2B productivity, software, data and analytics, finance and entertainment – to name a few.
The finalists:
- Femna Health M.E. GmbH: A holistic and accessible approach to women’s health that offers diagnostics, treatments and solutions all online.
- Zero Waste Era: The zero waste shop of the future.
- Yoona Technology: An AI-based B2B software solution, which shortens the value chain of the fashion industry to one-click which then enables customers to customise designs to suit their individual tastes.
- Urban Social: Adding high-quality years to later life.
- Zuper GmbH: Zuper is the financial coach that helps people take control of their money.
- Abelcare: A platform for sexually transmitted disease awareness and easily accessible testing.
- Nose pod: An allergy, contagion and air pollution mini-filter on the tip of your nose
- CarbonWatcher: A fun interface to reduce carbon contributions.
- BetterEco: B2B service that strategically procures organic agricultural raw materials globally, to meet quality demands from organisations across all sectors, in particular, the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
- PlanA Earth: Uses an algorithm to predict where and how climate change is going to hit the hardest to help individuals and companies create action plans to fight climate change.
- Emerald Berlin: Using fair fashion to raise money and awareness for NGOs and charities.
- FamilyPunk: Empowering parents to build thriving families through tools such as a digital parenting coach.
- Lookfit: Data-driven AI solutions and services for innovative interactions with customers. Lookfit allows customers to create a 3D avatar to browse a website’s fashion inventory creating an engaging online shopping experience.
- FlightClaim EU: Fighting for the rights of air travellers. FlightClaimEU handles claims successfully for air passengers affected by delayed flights, cancellations and denied boarding.
The development phases:
The finalists represent the full-spectrum of development phases from early idea-stage, through to prototype and first paying users up to fully functioning businesses.
The Berlin semi-final:
Our very own Anetta Leticia Vajda is one of their judges for the competition’s Berlin semi-final. She brings to the table her law and financial corporate expertise as well as her experience leading Frankfurt Valley, a grassroots initiative that empowers people to follow their enterprise and creative dreams.
Annetta is keen to find out where the founders think they can make the biggest impact within their respective industries as well as lending her professional expertise to support them going forward.
Join the Berlin event:
The event on Thursday (24.10.2019) is your chance to see some of Germany’s best startup talent and show your support for a better Germany. Empowering more women to take the leap into entrepreneurship is fantastic for Germany not only because there will simply be more entrepreneurs but having more women calling the shots in business is a force for gender equality and lasting change.
