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EmpoWomen Programme Concludes Two-Year Mission, Fueling a New Generation of 25 Women-Led Deep Tech Startups

The Horizon Europe-funded programme concludes, leaving a legacy of 25 accelerated startups from 15+ countries, over €750,000 in distributed funding, and more than €4.5 million in follow-on investment raised by its first cohort alone.

BRUSSELS, 27 October 2025 – The EmpoWomen programme, a two-year, €2M project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe, officially concludes its operations this month, marking a significant success in the mission to empower women in the deep tech sector. Over 24 months, EmpoWomen has directly addressed the critical funding and support gap for female founders, accelerating 25 elite startups from EU Widening Area countries and demonstrating the immense, untapped economic potential of women-led innovation.

The programme, which saw a fierce 18:1 application-to-selection ratio, proved to be a vital catalyst for its participants. The impact has been tangible and immediate: the 11 startups from the first cohort alone have raised over €4.5 million in follow-on funding and filed more than 10 patents in the 12 months since their graduation.

The EmpoWomen Impact: A New Generation of Leaders

EmpoWomen’s success was built on a comprehensive support system designed to provide founders with exactly what they needed to scale:

  • Catalytic Funding: Over €750,000 in equity-free funding was distributed across the 25 startups.
  • World-Class Acceleration: An intensive 6-month acceleration programme led by Startup Wise Guys, featuring 250+ hours of training, mentoring, and sales development.
  • Elite Mentorship: Over 100 one-on-one sessions with a curated pool of more than 80 top-tier international mentors.
  • Unprecedented Investor Access: Direct pitching opportunities to 200+ investors through Business Angels Europe‘s network, culminating in Demo Days at major tech conferences like Slush and How to Web.
  • Global Visibility: A dedicated communications work package led by TechUkraine, which included producing the “Women in Tech” podcast series to share the founders’ stories with a global audience.

Meet the EmpoWomen Trailblazers

The legacy of EmpoWomen is its 25 alumni companies, a powerhouse portfolio of deep tech innovation spanning HealthTech, AI, Sustainability, Robotics, and more.

Cohort 1 (2024)

  • HUGUP (Poland): Revolutionizing pregnancy wellness with advanced support wear, HUGUP is a deep tech startup dedicated to enhancing the journey of expecting mothers.
  • IPLEXMED (Portugal): Offering a new generation of portable genetic diagnostic devices, IPLEXMED ensures health support is accessible anytime, anywhere.
  • Astroteq.ai (Poland): With its AI-driven earthquake forecasting system, Astroteq.ai provides critical alerts prior to earthquakes, potentially saving lives and property.
  • Heilo (Poland): Protecting babies from polluted air, Heilo has developed an innovative air-purifier for baby prams and strollers, ensuring a healthy start to life.
  • GOTECH Antimicrobial (Portugal): Fighting medical device infections, GOTECH Antimicrobial develops cutting-edge antimicrobial technologies, advancing healthcare outcomes.
  • IQ Biozoom (Poland): Improving personal health management through non-invasive diagnostic tests, IQ Biozoom is pioneering pain-free solutions for individuals.
  • Pinky CyberSafe (Moldova): Enhancing cybersecurity awareness for SMEs, Pinky CyberSafe utilizes AI-driven solutions to fortify digital defenses.
  • INNOSENSUS (Lithuania): Offering a personal biosensor for gluten detection, INNOSENSUS empowers individuals with quick and reliable food sensitivity testing.
  • GMZ Enerji Sistemleri (Turkey): Spearheading innovative solutions for hydrogen energy and fuel cells, GMZ Enerji Sistemleri is driving the transition towards sustainable energy.
  • P-Agro Minerals (Latvia): Providing an affordable technology for phosphorus recovery from wastewater, P-Agro Minerals offers a sustainable fertilizer solution for agriculture.
  • The Newsroom (Portugal): Tackling misinformation and filter bubbles in news consumption, The Newsroom leverages AI-powered technology to promote informed discourse and critical thinking.

Cohort 2 (2025)

  • eDynamics Technologies (Portugal): AI-driven musculoskeletal fatigue monitoring for injury prevention and enhanced performance in sports and industries.
  • PURR.AI (Portugal): AI-powered platform revolutionizing drug discovery for age-related neurological diseases.
  • Enhanced Fertility (Portugal): AI-driven fertility diagnostics to optimize treatments and improve success rates.
  • Corium Biotech (Portugal): Sustainable cellular leather solutions for eco-friendly luxury fashion.
  • W2W – Wearify (Armenia): 3D virtual fitting rooms powered by AI and AR for enhanced online shopping experiences.
  • AlongRoute Data (Greece): AI-enhanced marine weather forecasting to optimize shipping routes and reduce emissions.
  • Wasit (Estonia): Fintech platform connecting small-scale farmers with retail investors for sustainable agriculture.
  • Centrum Cognitio (Slovenia): AI-powered mental health solutions optimizing therapy through predictive analytics.
  • Shin Rai Robotics (Poland): Robotics and XR-driven automation solutions for manufacturing efficiency.
  • AMYGDALA HEALTH (Estonia): AI-driven digital lifestyle modification for (pre)heart disease management.
  • Helios (Türkiye): Nanotechnology solutions for efficient CO₂ capture and recovery.
  • Veles Sense (Serbia): AI and drone-based vineyard stress detection for sustainable winemaking.
  • SkinFuture (Latvia): Natural UV protection and skincare solutions leveraging advanced materials.
  • TAY Yazilim Teknolojileri (Türkiye): AI-powered radar sensors reducing energy consumption and enabling health applications.

Voices from the Cohort: “EmpoWomen was Transformative”

The true measure of the programme’s success is the feedback from its founders.

“EmpoWomen was transformative for both IPLEXMED and me as a woman founder. The program combined deep technical guidance, investor-readiness training, and leadership development, equipping us with practical tools to refine our fundraising strategy… [and] reinforcing my role as a female leader in deep tech.” – Founder & CEO of IPLEXMED (Cohort 1)

“EmpoWomen gave us three things we couldn’t easily buy: visibility, credibility, and a high-trust founder network. Being selected to the first cohort put us on stages and deal-floors we hadn’t accessed before and validated our vision publicly.” – Founder & CEO of IQ Biozoom (Cohort 1)

“Most importantly, we reached TRL 9 for our membranes and initiated pre-commercial agreements for pilot testing with five companies. The funding not only enhanced our technology readiness level but also enabled us to present our innovation with stronger credibility.” – Founder & CEO of GMZ Enerji (Cohort 1)

“Extremely valuable. Practical mentoring and peer learning sharpened our strategy and pitch, and boosted our confidence engaging investors. The grant funded wear tests… and freed runway to focus on sales and investor outreach.” – Founder & CEO of Hugup (Cohort 1)

“From a more of a personal perspective, it was also a first time we got together with other female founders in deep-tech. It was astonishing how, even though working on different technologies, the problems we faced were all the same. The feeling of being understood and supported was invaluable.” – Founder & CEO of P-Agro Minerals (Cohort 1)

“EmpoWomen was for us a game changer. The mentoring process with experienced professionals helped us refine our business strategy and pitch deck, which was crucial for engaging with investors.” – Founder & CEO of Enhanced Fertility (Cohort 2)

“What did EmpoWomen mean for us? The financial grant was a massive boost, of course, but the real value lay in the structured mentoring and the network we gained. It validated our technology and our vision on an international stage.” – Founder & CEO of Wasit (Cohort 2)

“The EmpoWomen program was instrumental in gaining traction and attracting our first institutional investor. The investor-readiness workshops were invaluable.” – Founder & CEO of Purr.ai (Cohort 2)

Why Supporting Women in Deep Tech is an Economic Imperative

The EmpoWomen programme was launched to tackle a well-documented market failure. As highlighted in the project’s EmpoWomen White Paper and newly released infographics, women-led startups in Europe receive a fraction of available venture capital, despite often demonstrating higher capital efficiency and strong competitiveness.

EmpoWomen has proven that targeted, structured support—combining non-dilutive funding with world-class acceleration and investor access—is a high-impact solution to de-risk and unlock this potential. Supporting women-led deep tech is not just a matter of equality; it is a critical economic strategy for securing Europe’s global competitiveness.

The Journey Forward: Resources for Female Founders

While EmpoWomen is concluding, the mission to support female founders continues. We encourage trailblazing entrepreneurs to explore other outstanding opportunities within the European ecosystem, including: the EIC Accelerator, which offers blended finance (grants up to €2.5 million and equity up to €15 million); Women TechEU (2024–2026), which provides €75,000 in early-stage grants, coaching, and leadership support to women-led deep-tech startups; Open Horizons (2025–2027), designed to bridge the funding and corporate network gap; WE-RISE (2025–2027), which supports greentech, agritech, and climatetech startups with grants up to €55,000 and tailored support; and EPIC-X (2025-2026), which accelerates women-led deep-tech innovation in underrepresented EU regions. Additionally, non-financial support is available through the EIC Women Leadership Programme, the Supernovas (EIT) and Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (EIT Health) focused on investor-readiness and market entry, the WEgate digital platform, and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) – Women Entrepreneurship Group for internationalisation. We have added and will keep on adding such and similar initiatives in our Sister Projects section on the website. 

The project’s commitment to ecosystem-wide impact also continues through its Resources section, where the consortium has publicly shared all key deliverables, reports, and knowledge generated over the two years. This valuable aggregation of results and experience gained is intended as an open-source asset to be leveraged by other support programs, policy makers, and teams working to advance gender equality in deep tech across Europe.

A Word of Thanks to Our Partners

This programme’s success was only possible through the dedicated collaboration of the EmpoWomen consortium:

We extend our deepest gratitude to the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme for their visionary funding. We also thank our invaluable network of associated partners, mentors, jury members, and ecosystem builders who dedicated their time and expertise to our founders.

The Future is Innovative and Inclusive

As the EmpoWomen project closes, its legacy is just beginning. The 25 alumni companies are now scaling, hiring, filing patents, and solving some of the world’s most complex challenges. We invite the global tech community to follow their journeys and continue to champion the brilliant, resilient, and powerful women shaping the innovative future of Europe.

The full list of our graduate startups, complete with links to their individual success stories and recorded podcasts, is available on one dedicated page: 

25 EmpoWomen Startups and their success stories

We highly encourage all readers and investors to visit this page to study more about the successful outcomes and impact of our graduates.

 

About EmpoWomen

EmpoWomen is a two-year program (2024-2025) operating within the framework of the HORIZON-CSA action and falling under the call designation HORIZON-EIC-2022-STARTUPEU-01. It is funded under grant agreement number 101120693. This initiative is dedicated to supporting startups led by women in Europe, providing equity-free funding and vouchers for mentorship, business angel investment, and participation in tech summits. The primary goal of EmpoWomen is to promote gender equality and diversity in entrepreneurship, contributing to economic growth and innovation in Europe. 

The project is supporting women-led deep tech startups from Widening Area countries. By providing equity-free funding, world-class mentorship, and access to a broad European network of investors and partners, EmpoWomen aims to level the playing field and empower a new generation of female innovators to solve global challenges. 

For more information, visit https://empowomen.eu. 

Contact: 

Nataly Veremeeva
Director, TechUkraine
info@techukraine.org
TechUkraine.org

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