Three Swedish startups selected for first ever Women TechEU program

The European Commission has selected 50 women-led deep-tech startups for its Women TechEU pilot program.

The program boosts deep-tech innovation by women throughout Europe, and is a brand new initiative in the European Union.

“The high number of outstanding applications confirms there is a need for women in deep-tech to get support for their companies at the early, riskiest stage,” Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said.

The program offers grants of €75,000, to support the company’s initial steps and growth. It also offers mentoring, coaching, and EU-wide networking opportunities.

“This kind of challenge pushes us in the right direction”

Three of the 50 women-led deep-tech startups are based in Sweden; Vividye, Bright day Graphene, and Enphasys.

Vividye aims to enable to easy reuse of clothes by offering a removable textile print. The print can be applied and re-applied without damaging the fibers’ quality.

“We are incredibly happy and proud to be a part of this first Women TechEU program,” Co-founder and CEO Johanna Nissén Karlsson said. “We want to encourage and inspire more women to start their own companies and we believe that these initiatives will contribute to this goal.”

The European Commission said projects will start this spring, and should run for 6 to 12 months. The leaders will also participate in the European Innovation Council’s Women Leadership Program for mentoring.

“Both the mentoring aspects of the program and the collaboration with other women in tech will add great value to our company,” Nissén Karlsson said. “Our technology is dependent on the awareness of consumers, so all outreach of our technology is fruitful.”

Nissén Karlsson said the €75,000 grant allows them to expand their tech team. It also enables them to further work on their business model and build closer relations with partners.

“By meeting other female entrepreneurs, we can discuss the challenges we face and be a part of the solution to reduce the gender gap,” Nissén Karlsson said.

The European Commission expects to include more companies during the next cohort, because of the positive response from this round.