The conversation around women founders and the funding gap has been heating up in the past few years, leading to the creation of several funds, incubators, and accelerator programs aiming to bridge this gap.

However, supporting women founders isn't just about financial backing opportunities. It's also about giving them mentorship, resources, and a strong network to help them to navigate the entrepreneurship journey.

Achieving big-picture change requires a collaborative effort to bring gender diversity across all parts of startup ecosystem and support women founders as they progress through their entrepreneurial journey.

Below is an overview of the Nordic organizations running programs specifically for women founders, all working to EVEN the playing field.

This overview is mainly focused on early-stage programs that help women founders move from their initial ideas to landing their first customers and securing funding. We’ve grouped everything beyond that into the growth stage, which includes a lot of different programs and distinctions. We’ll dive into those in future articles due to its complexity and variety.

Quick glossary of key terms

Incubators provide a nurturing environment for developing business ideas into viable startups, offering resources like mentorship, workspace, and networking opportunities. They sometimes offer also a soft funding, which provides financial support without requiring equity.

Accelerators are more intensive, usually cohort based programs, helping startups at early stage to grow and scale quickly through mentorship, education, and access to a network of investors and industry experts.

Venture capital (VC) funds provide financial backing for startups with long-term growth potential. In exchange for their investment, strategic guidance and valuable industry connections, VCs typically receive equity in the company. It’s important to note that while VCs can be a crucial source of funding, but there are also other funding paths available.

Incubators

Even Founders: We’re on a mission to create and fund more women founders by breaking down barriers women might face when starting a company. Our 8-week Startup School is a free online program that helps women in the early stages of their startup journey, from choosing the right idea to building an MVP and testing it with customers. Open to all women in the Nordics, the program offers an engaging and safe space with mentorship, resources, tools, and a supportive community.

Website: https://www.evenfounders.com/

Tech Nordic Advocates: Tech Nordic Advocates is an ecosystem network, accelerating inclusive startup, scaleup and partner growth and international expansion through targeted growth initiatives and programs, focusing on supporting women in tech. Central to their efforts is the Nordic Female Tech Founder Frontrunner Growth Program, which includes an International Mentoring Program, an International Accelerator, and a Diversity Venture Fund.

Website: https://www.technordicadvocates.org/

Accelerators

Leap Forward: They provide a 5-month, equity-free accelerator program designed to help diverse-founded startups and scaleups grow in areas such as innovation, talent development, sustainability, and global expansion. The program is intentionally designed for diversity and inclusion and focuses on tech companies with a product or service that has the potential to scale and expand internationally. Participants should have either a functional prototype or paying customers and be in the pre-seed to Series A stage.

Website: https://www.leapforward.international/

DAYA Ventures: DAYA is a global femtech venture studio that creates and accelerates women-founded, high-impact startups in women's health. They help women to develop femtech solutions, providing initial teams, strategic direction, and funding. DAYA offers various initiatives for different startup stages, including an Innovation Lab, where femtech ideas are nurtured and transformed into high-impact startups, an Accelerator for growth support and mentorship, or consultancy services through DAYA Agency.

Website: https://www.daya.se/

VCs

Crowberry Capital: Crowberry Capital is a VC firm based in Iceland and Denmark, investing in seed and early-stage tech startups across the Nordics. Their mission is to support the most promising startups, as well as the untapped opportunities in inclusivity and diversity. Crowberry Capital is dedicated to seizing early-stage opportunities and leveraging their ability to spot value and potential in emerging technologies before they are validated by the market.

Website: https://www.crowberrycapital.com/

Backing Minds: Backing Minds invests in entrepreneurs outside traditional VC networks, focusing on scalable, customer-centric businesses with a proven revenue model. They typically invest in post-revenue tech companies based in the Nordics and Baltics. Backing Minds emphasizes diverse founders, and target companies in underinvested segments or outside capital cities, prioritizing those with significant social, environmental, or financial impact.

Website: https://www.backingminds.com/

Unconventional Ventures: Unconventional Ventures is an impact-focused VC investing in early-stage tech startups led by underrepresented founders in Europe. They specifically target pre-seed and seed-stage startups led by diverse founders, including women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ individuals, building scalable impact tech companies in the Nordics and beyond.

Website: https://www.unconventional.vc/

Ada Ventures: Ada Ventures is an inclusive venture firm that invests in tech companies at the pre-seed or seed stage, typically post-product but pre-traction. They focus on breakthrough ideas in climate equity, economic empowerment, and healthy aging, supporting founders who are addressing some of the most challenging problems we face.

Website: https://www.adaventures.com/

The Case for Her: The Case for Her is not a traditional VC, but a blended-finance investment portfolio focusing on key women's health issues, particularly menstruation and sexual health and pleasure. They use a mix of grants, investments, and advocacy to support companies and initiatives in these areas. With a risk-tolerant approach, they help organizations test and scale their ideas. Their global portfolio includes product companies, tech innovations, research initiatives, and grassroots efforts. The Case for Her aims to advance women's health on the global agenda and shift more capital into this underfunded space.

Website: https://thecaseforher.com/

Bridging the gender gap requires a collaborative effort, so many of these programs overlap or even work together. Some organizations are also more adaptive and support women through multiple stages of their startup journeys. But for anyone interested in these programs or VCs, thorough research is crucial. It’s important to know both the funding stage and the industry focus of the investor you’re approaching. For example, pitching an e-commerce business with a physical prototype to a late seed-stage VC focused on B2B software won’t go down well, no matter how good your product is.

We'll dive deeper into how to understand investors' investment theses and how to research them in future articles.

For any questions or input for this or future blog articles, feel free to reach out to us via hello@evenfounders.com.