The female founders of six start-up companies have been awarded a share of £200,000 in business grants through a competition organised by Women in Business in partnership with Techstart Ventures.
Focusing on products ranging from baby products to virtual reality, the final six were whittled down from over 50 applications for the Female Founders competition.
The competition aimed to support female entrepreneurs with a grant and business mentoring support directed towards exploring the viability and commercial potential of their innovative business idea.
Lucy Baxter’s business Sensailence was among the winning cohort.
“It’s essential to celebrate and encourage women in the entrepreneurship space, a growing sector here. Crunchbase figures show that in 2020, just 2.4% of global venture capital (VC)funding went to female founding teams and 5% of VC partner roles were held by women; Techstart and Women in Business are helping to redress that balance.
“I’m passionate about the Createch sector, and our new enterprise Sensalience mixes my skills in cinematic VR filmmaking and my partner Elaine Bousfield’s excellent track record in digital mental health. We’re so excited to get going, and thanks so much to Techstart and Women in Business for giving us that opportunity!”
Kathleen Garrett, heads up the Grant Fund within Techstart Ventures, said the calibre of entrants to the competition was impressive.
“It’s so inspiring to see first-hand the innovation and ingenuity within NI’s community of entrepreneurs,: she said. “Congratulations to the winners who we look forward to supporting on their journey to success.”
Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive of Wowen in Business, said there is an appetite for female entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland, noting 170 women attended the body’s information session on female funding.
“By accelerating the next generation of female-fronted start-ups, we can kindle a female enterprise ecosystem in Northern Ireland that has a positive ripple effect across society and the local economy for many more years to come,” she said. “A massive ‘well done’ to all the winners.”
