On 17.11.2022, the first Female Founders Finance Day of the Startup Incubator Berlin in cooperation with the Berliner Sparkasse took place live at Siemensstadt Square. We started with a roundtable of experts on the topic of finance and funding and the role of women in the founding sector. To close the evening, expert and financial advisor Ines Kroll delivered an impulse talk on financial and liquidity planning.
Rise in Female Founders, but Gender Gap in Capital
It was an extraordinarily exciting evening with many facts, especially from the recently published Female Founders Monitor by the Startup Association. While 20% of founders are now women, there is still a gender gap when it comes to capital. Male teams receive 9 times as much capital as female teams.
What was the conclusion of our talk round?
There is still a lot to be done, but a great deal has already been achieved. It is important to build your own network — and to do so strategically. As an aspiring founder, build a network that can support you in your career. Find out which business angels fit your company and reach out. Angels also often enjoy serving as mentors.
Learn everything about the topic of finance — how does the entire investment landscape work? Berliner Sparkasse offers, for example, extensive (free) consulting for startups, whether it concerns loan financing, grants, or investments: berliner-sparkasse.de/startups
There are many books that explain the basic “ABCs”, for example Dealterms.vc or you can attend an Angel Academy, such as the one offered by our speaker Karla Schönicke, the FIN Academy. It is designed for future investors, which you as an aspiring founder may one day become. The knowledge will benefit you in any case, and it is an ideal place for your network.
Knowledge is Power
The IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce), the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB), Berliner Partner (economic development agency) and the Business Plan Competition Berlin Brandenburg also offer aspiring founders and young startups free workshops and informational events on finance and funding.
The Investitionsbank Berlin also offers a funding guide with all funding programs from the region.
Further Events
Simply follow us on LinkedIn and keep checking our events page. We regularly organize workshops and events.
Here you can find a few video recordings of our event on YouTube.
Our Talk Round Guests at a Glance
Karla Schönicke – Venture Scout at Ananda & Speedinvest & Founder Women CTO Dinner
With 10 years of experience in the Berlin startup scene, including the last 6 years in product management, Karla has seen a large number of startups and scale-ups from the inside — from 8 to 350 employees, B2B and B2C, in FinTech, SaaS, e-commerce, WealthTech and HRTech. She then transitioned from the tech industry to venture capital. Together with the Female Investors Network (FIN), she launched the first Female Business Angel Academy #FINacademy to attract more women to startup investing. In June, she joined Ananda Impact Ventures as a Venture Scout and now uses her extensive professional network to find impact startups.
Tina Weise – Trueffles GmbH
Tina Weise is Managing Director of Trueffles GmbH and is responsible for the product conception and business development of the company. Together with her team, she is building Trueffles, a community-based research platform that enables people to compile their information more efficiently, organize it more clearly, and share it with one another. Trueffles has just completed the Berlin Startup Scholarship at the Startup Incubator Berlin and is in talks with business angels for a pre-seed round.
Dr. Amelie Wiedemann – DearEmployee GmbH
Amelie Wiedemann is founder and CSO (Chief Science Officer) of DearEmployee GmbH. Healthy working is more than an ergonomic office chair. DearEmployee is a corporate health platform that supports companies in creating healthy and motivating working conditions. DearEmployee is particularly active in the D-A-CH region and has over 170 customers, including numerous large and medium-sized companies such as AXA and DEKRA.
Prof. Dr. Heike Wiesner – Professor of Business Information and Communication Systems at HWR Berlin
Transformative Technologies and Participatory Software Design are central components of Professor Heike Wiesner’s portfolio. She is a recognized expert in the field of business informatics, specializing in Business Information and Communication Systems. Additionally, she possesses specific expertise in the field of formative (accompanying) evaluation and the research area of IT & Diversity/Gender. She can point to already established national and international projects and publications and is furthermore a mentor for startup teams at the Startup Incubator Berlin.
Petra Sachse – Head of Sales, Media and Creative Industries
Petra Sachse has been working in the retail business of Berliner Sparkasse for 30 years and knows both the private customer segment and the business customer segment of Berliner Sparkasse. As a long-time manager, she has already been able to accompany many young colleagues in their professional development. Developing new talent is of great importance for companies today. Through her involvement in important strategic projects, she has been able to get to know and appreciate agile methods.
