Ecosystem

Women are still highly underrepresented in the startup sector with a share of around 20% – looking at science and tech-based startups the share is even 10% female founders. The reasons for these disparities are complex, but women clearly have to overcome a whole range of obstacles on their way to the top. The underrepresentation of women in the startup scene is not only a societal and systemic issue for gender equality, but also a missed opportunity for the economy. With our project, we aim to tackle these problems and alter the narrative about women entrepreneurs in Switzerland.

In order to promote female entrepreneurship and enable women to found their business, the Innovation Office (University of Basel) launched the FEMtrepreneurs Initiative in 2019. FEMtrepreneurs are female entrepreneurs and women holding leadership positions in organizations. We focus on supporting innovative, research-based projects and do so by providing entrepreneurial education, supporting projects by giving them visibility, as well as creating a network of peers, future employees, supporters and advisors. Lastly, we want to open the door to the world through the global partners.

“We advocate for more women and for equality: in discussions, on podiums, in the political arena, in the media – in all areas that shape public perception.
We are convinced that with more awareness of the importance of women’s presence, men can contribute to a more diverse discourse.”

We aim to address the issue of gender bias in venture capital decisions in order to promote a higher equality between men and women in the Swiss start-up scene. The present project therefore focuses on developing a closer cooperation between corporate investors, entrepreneurship experts, and female founders.

We want to build a network of diverse women from different industries and offer regular and interesting exchanges. Sharing our experiences and questions is incredibly valuable! In line with our motto “Empowered Women Empower Women” we can inspire each other and bring each other forward.

Swissnex is the Swiss global network connecting Switzerland and the world in education, research and innovation. Our mission is to support the outreach and active engagement of our partners in the international exchange of knowledge, ideas and talents. We thereby contribute to strengthen Switzerland’s profile as a world-leading innovation hotspot.

feminno offers all female scientists in life sciences the opportunity to combine their research from academia with innovation, entrepreneurship and industry. At the end of the program participants will be able to take an educated decision about their next career move or to build their own business with their innovative idea.

Startup Campus is a consortium of different universities, universities of applied sciences and technoparks as well as other players in the ecosystem that supports individuals in their entrepreneurial journey

Future Females Zurich is part of a global female business network who supports all entrepreneurs and more so, female entrepreneurs, females working in corporate or those who wish to start a side-hustle. We aim to educate, inspire, and help all create and manage successful businesses or give them a platform where they can learn from others. ​

As an NGO our strategy lies in investigating the challenges and blockers that women, as entrepreneurs, face in today’s world ecosystem and providing strategies, tools, and frameworks to ultimately drive a change to this narrative.

EmpowrInternational enables the competencies of women-achievers in alignment with their personal expressions through awareness, through the uplifting of our humane characteristics in harmony and embracing our nature. We do that by hosting Workshops and offer mentoring programs.

Be Like Grace is a network for women in Tech and Innovation. We strongly believe that diverse teams produce better results. As there are still too few women in this field, we offer a platform for exchange and better networking among women with our events and tech challenges. Job offers, role models and information events at schools are also part of our portfolio.

Advance to Amplify (AtoA), is a venture born out of the Roxbourg MBA program focused on social impact. The goal of our venture is to make a difference in gender diversity for women who are professionally at-risk. We are a volunteering team of six women with diverse personal, cultural and professional backgrounds and seek to support and accompany women who are professionally at risk. Our mission is to enrich each woman’s professional journey with access to relevant learning based on self-assessment, exposure to trusted networks of peers and mentors, and amplify their visibility for potential employment.

WE SHAPE TECH is a global platform for greater diversity and inclusion in technology and innovation. Our aim is to empower individuals of underrepresented groups transforming potential into actions and grow talents into leaders. By creating an environment of trust, we contribute to an open exchange of ideas, knowledge and life hacks among its members.

WE SHAPE TECH encourages gender, ethnic and demographic minorities to step out of their comfort zones shaping an even more ambitious personal agenda. Enhancing influence within their teams literally starts a virtuous circle.

Tech4Eva is a not-for-profit organization on a mission to create an innovation platform in Switzerland, where disruptive start-ups and projects from around the globe develop innovative solutions for improving or advancing technologies relating to women’s health and achieving respective growth. The vision of the organization is to build a global FemTech community by connecting all stakeholders in different markets active in the sector.

The WOMEN’S HUB is a vibrant community that fosters collective growth. Our goal is to support each other in becoming the boldest, truest version of ourselves – whatever that looks like for each of us. We empower each other, both personally and professionally.

At our events we provide women with stages (real and virtual) to share their visions, ideas and projects, and boost their journeys with in-depth reflections, valuable connections and insights from the audience.

You are welcome to join our online sessions, become part of the WOMEN’S HUB Community in Zurich and take the stage yourself at one of our WOMEN’S HUB DAYS!

Since the foundation’s establishment in 1987, the goal of the W.A. de Vigier Foundation has been to actively invigorate business development and further provide direct financial support (5x CHF 100’000 each year à fonds perdu) to young people with innovative business ideas wishing to build performance and growth oriented businesses in Switzerland.
We are actively looking for more diversity within our applicants – only female founders bold enough to apply can also win the award.
Please feel free to reach out to Hanna Byland, CEO, for any questions.

elleXX is a one-stop financial hub for women. The digital platform combines the imparting of financial knowledge specifically for women with female-friendly and digital financial products. While there are already many financial blogs, elleXX makes financial topics more accessible and draws attention to gender gaps that exist in society. With regards to financial products, elleXX offers full-transparent, hand-picked co-created sustainable products. elleXX has already built Switzerland’s biggest community of female finance within only 5 months and wants to become the most trusted and biggest platform for female finance in Europe.

Biased180 aims to create a more diverse and inclusive startup eco-system. We increase awareness and advance scientific knowledge about stereotypes, prejudices and other group biases in the (Swiss) startup eco-system and provide programs to reduce the effect of bias.

We Connect Collaborate — WeCoCo is a community driven platform made by women for everyone because diversity rocks. We connect disruptors, action takers and game changers to foster innovation. WeCoCo is a catalyst for change to co-create a more inclusive future which includes more women in innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Powered by collaboration, we achieve more!

OOMNIUM is a curated platform for investing in and the funding of start-ups and SMEs with a social impact.
We provide retail investors with access to carefully selected companies from across Switzerland that are in the midst of a financing round. For companies, we offer a platform for crowd-based fundraising of capital increases and the issuance of digital securities.

We want to improve the health of 3.9 bio women and 600 mio men world wide by promoting gender-specific healthcare.

We certify medication, treatments, diagnostics and prevention that use a gender-specific approach in development and application to the patient.

We publish gender-segregated clinical data so healthcare professionals and patients can gain an understanding of possibilities for gender-related outcome gain and unltimately take better treatment decisions.