Portuguese women entrepreneurs get funding from Horizon Europe-Women TechEU

Deep tech accounts for more than a quarter of Europe's startup ecosystem, with European deep tech companies now valued at €700 billion combined and growing. However, women remain largely underrepresented across this industry.

Founded on engineering innovation and advances in science, deep-tech startups tend to have longer R&D cycles and generally take more time and capital to build than other startups. Most can fail in the early years if they don't get the right support and investment from the start. Women in deep tech often face the additional hurdle of gender bias and stereotypes, particularly prevalent in sectors like technology.

Funded under Horizon Europe's European Innovation Ecosystems work program, Women TechEU is a new initiative from the European Union. The scheme offers first class training and mentoring for female founders, as well as targeted funding to help take their businesses to the next level. Women TechEU offers:

• Financial support to the company as an individual grant of 75,000 euros to support the initial steps of the innovation process and the growth of the company,
• Mentoring and coaching provided by EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS) under the new "Women Leadership Programme", which includes dedicated networking and pitching events,
• The possibility to participate in dedicated activities organized by InvestEU and Enterprise Europe Network.

The Women TechEU pilot scheme was launched on July 13, 2021 as a new EU scheme that supports deep tech startups led by women and helps them become the deep tech champions of tomorrow. Under the Women TechEU pilot call, 50 promising deep tech startups from EU member states and associated countries will receive targeted funding and first-class coaching and mentoring.