At the FemaleCapital Pitch Night on December 16, 2024, female founders will present their promising startups at the Ullsteinhaus in Berlin – at the new location of the Startup Incubator Berlin.
Berlin women investing in Berlin female founders – that is the FemaleCapital initiative, launched by encourageventures with the support of the Berlin Senate for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, celebrating its Berlin premiere this year. As part of the encourageventures Academy, Berlin women were trained as investors. The focus was not only on sound foundational knowledge about angel investment, but also on mentoring and community building.
Pitch Night: A Stage for Female Founders
The highlight of the initiative is the FemaleCapital Pitch Night on December 16, 2024, which will be officially opened by Franziska Giffey, Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. At the FemaleCapital Pitch Night, six selected female founders from across Berlin will present their exciting business ideas to secure investment, including the SIB EXIST Founding Scholarship Team Deepfile, which has already made it into the Top 10 at the Innovation Award Berlin Brandenburg.
A Strong Network for Female Founders
Especially for female founders, investor networks are a valuable opportunity to specifically seek contact with the still scarce number of female business angels. A strong ecosystem in Berlin strengthens not only the visibility of female investors, but also the prospects for innovative ideas and projects by women.
Ullsteinhaus: A Dual Founding Hub
The FemaleCapital Pitch Night is at the same time a preview of upcoming developments at this location: From January 2025, the Startup Incubator Berlin (SIB), the founding center of the Berlin School of Economics and Law, will relocate to the Ullsteinhaus. Together with The Drivery – the global ecosystem for mobility innovation – the SIB brings its many years of experience in startup support and is specifically expanding its focus on supporting female founders. This includes practice-oriented workshops and coaching to impart founding knowledge, dedicated spaces for founding teams, and a prototyping and multimedia lab. In addition, the SIB’s network for early-stage founding support and its scholarship programs complement The Drivery’s offering. In particular, the new Berlin Startup Scholarship Women and the EXIST Women Program offer the SIB’s tailored support for female founders.
An Ecosystem for More Innovation
The investor network encourageventures aims, together with the Berlin Senate for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and other partners in the startup ecosystem, to create a more inclusive, innovative and dynamic investment landscape from which the economy and society as a whole will benefit. Through close collaboration with policymakers, business angels, startups and the entire environment can be sustainably strengthened. Policymakers set the framework conditions that enable innovation and growth, startups act as drivers of technological and economic development, and business angels contribute capital, contacts and know-how. A successful dialogue and cooperation between these parties are essential for building a dynamic and successful startup and angel ecosystem.
