Tag: entreprenuers

New Global Platform For Women Entrepreneurs To Tackle Gender Gap In Tech

“It’s no secret the odds are stacked against women starting tech companies. We’re tired waiting so we’re taking matters into our own hands”, that’s the message from Irish entrepreneur Máirín Murray who has developed a global platform to tackle the gap in female founded tech startups.

Co Down entrepreneur Máirín, founder of women‑in‑tech innovation company TechFoundHer, has announced the global launch of the TechFoundHer Collective, an online platform designed to accelerate women into tech entrepreneurship.

She explained the new membership programme will give women the practical support and backing to start, lead and scale tech companies, even if they have no coding background.

According to data commissioned by the Invest in Women Taskforce all-female founded businesses in Northern Ireland received just £2.5 million (2%) of the nation’s total equity funding in 2024, male teams received £93.7 million in investment which was nearly 80% of the total amount invested.

“We’re launching The Collective on National Women’s Enterprise Day because the numbers speak for themselves – the challenges are global – we all know about the approx 2% of VC funding going to women led enterprises but what’s needed is action” said Máirín.

Against that backdrop, The Collective is backed by a powerful network of global investors and tech leaders including Kelly Vero (CTO in Residence), Lata Setty (Global Investor in Residence), Naseem Sayani (VC in Residence), Wendy Ryan (Angel Investor in Residence), Rose Tighe (Product Innovator in Residence), Ntola Obazee (Chief Marketing Officer in Residence) and Aarthi Kumar (Chief Data & AI Strategist in Residence) among others.

“The gender stereotyping of what a tech founder looks like is real. Women innovating with tech are facing a multitude of challenges. From less funding and backers to fewer accelerator places” Dublin based entrepreneur, Máirín said, adding: “with higher barriers for women starting tech ventures we need new thinking and solutions.

“The TechFoundHer Collective is our answer, founder-led –  it’s a global network where women champion other women, share product and tech know-how and tap into investors who believe in them,” she explained.

Membership of the TechFoundHer Collective will give participants early access to tools, webinars and expert support and connect members with investors and industry champions.

Game industry icon Kelly Vero, the CTO in Residence for The Collective, said: “I’m thrilled to be joining TechFoundHer as CTO in Residence. I’ll be hosting Ask Me Anything sessions, this is a chance for members to ask me anything from building AI engines, designing games, creating clean tech stacks and surviving code chaos, to just staying sane while being the only woman in the room.”

TechFoundHer’s move comes as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports a rise in women’s start‑up activity, up from 6.1% in the early 2000s to 10.4% in 2021‑23, yet still underscores the fact that women remain under‑represented in high‑growth tech sectors and leadership roles.

International investor and legal expert Lata Setty, Global Investor in Residence at The Collective said: “As Global Investor in Residence, thrilled to join the TechFoundHer Collective.

“Across the globe, women tech founders are crying out for a network that not only fuels innovation and collaboration, but also drives and measures progress.

“The TechFoundHer Collective delivers that momentum and so much more – helping founders move faster, build smarter, scale quicker and contribute to global impact.”

From community build-a-longs hosted by founders, to hands-on workshops using disruptive tools like Lovable and Replit, The Collective is redefining what it means to build a startup in 2025 and beyond.

Early adopter, entrepreneur Susie Kilcoyne who is the founder of loyalty platform Locket, said: “With the Collective, you’re not going solo. You’re building alongside a crew of founders who are all figuring it out together. That’s what makes it powerful.”

For more information or to join The Collective go to techfound-her.mn.co.

Download App on Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/techfoundher-collective/id6745909124

Download App on Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mightybell.techfoundher&hl=en

National Women’s Enterprise Day 2025 is announced

This year’s National Women’s Enterprise Day has been launched.  The initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) aimed at inspiring and supporting female entrepreneurs and women in business will take place across the country on Thursday 16th October.

Last year saw a record-breaking number of attendees sign up for the day with 2,200 taking part across the country.  This year there will be 15 events nationwide on National Women’s Enterprise Day with some of Ireland’s best known female entrepreneurs and women in business sharing their stories of challenges and success.

Some of those involved in the events across the country this year include broadcaster and entrepreneur, Norah Casey, international human rights lawyer Joanna Frivet, author and psychologist, Dr Katriona O’Sullivan, designer Helen Steele, entrepreneur Oonagh O’Hagan, home and food influencer, Sarah Butler, Hotelier Sammie Leslie, fitness influencer, Kellie Fennell and stylist and presenter Sonya Lennon.

The launch took place at one of the event venues, Gloster House in Birr, County Offaly and featured a selection of LEO supported female led businesses including sisters Hope Hayes and Angelina Sheridan of Flaunta, Emma Duffy of My Little Tooth Fairy and Nicola Lyons of Bánór.

The events will cover a wide range of topics for women at every stage of business.   That might be those who have an idea they want to develop or those who have been in business for a while and want to diversify or enter new markets.  There will be experts on all areas involved from funding and networking to marketing and upskilling.

For more information on National Women’s Enterprise Day and what events are on go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie/NWED

AWS launches Startup Loft in Dublin to support early-stage tech entrepreneurs reach their potential through the Cloud

The AWS Startup loft is a home for technology startups in one of AWS’s Dublin city centre offices in Charlemont Street. This co-working space is free to use for startups and is equipped with open seating, phonebooths, WiFi and coffee to keep startups fuelled.

The loft regularly hosts office hours and talks with venture capital, legal and accounting firms. Every Wednesday and Thursday startups can sit down with an AWS solution architect or account manager for ‘Ask the Expert’ sessions. This could be an opportunity to discuss a startups technology roadmap, architecture guidance or cost optimisation.

Vyra – Eoin Le Masney (Sector – Sustainability EdTech)

Backed by behavioural science, the Vyra Platform provides businesses with a highly engaging solution to up-skill employees rapidly and at scale. Whether it is through Vyra’s best-in-class learning modules or bespoke company learning programmes, the Vyra Platform is there to deliver to 50 or 5000 employees. https://vyra.ie/why-vyra/

KowRoo – Sheelagh Brady (Sector – Travel and Corporate Security)

Risks associated with travel, such as delays, accidents, criminality, or even death, can have an enormous impact on a business. The global security market is estimated to have an annual turnover in excess of $66.9B for the US alone. KowRoo combines analysis of real-time data that is personalised for the user, whilst integrating the risk appetite of the business, and communicating dynamic risk rating results via an app to the user. KowRoo will have a mobile app and desktop user interface, behind which a large volume of historical risk assessments generated from past analyses and real time incidents will be used as inputs to modern AI algorithms to build a real time robotic analyst “KowRoo”.

Elkstone Capital – Kate Fullen (Venture Capital)

Elkstone is a leading Irish Investment House focused on Entrepreneurs, Senior Executives, Institutional LPs, the Venture Community and Irish Diaspora. Their mission is to increase the economic value and overall wellbeing of the Island of Ireland by enabling deserving investments and delivering superior investment performance.

Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Minister Dara Calleary :

“The Start Up Loft initiative is an important addition to the entrepreneur and start up ecosystem here in Ireland. This space and others like it play a vital role by supporting early stage and start-up companies test out their ideas, pitch for investment, and build their networks. I’m pleased to support the launch today which will complement the range of government supports and schemes available through our enterprise agencies, including the Local Enterprise Office network and Enterprise Ireland, to help Irish start-ups scale up, grow, and succeed both at home and on the global stage.”

 Mike Beary – Country Manager, AWS Ireland:

“At AWS, one of our leadership principles is to “Think Big”. Here in Dublin, we want to enable a culture of “thinking big” by providing some of Ireland’s brightest entrepreneurs with a space for their ideas to grow. This new Startup Loft will create the ideal forum for new companies to meet other founders, interact with VCs, and discuss how to take their businesses to the next level.”

Kate Fullen – Elkstone:

“Spaces like this give the VC community a chance to work with some of the most interesting founders in the country as they get their new companies up and running. The AWS Startup Loft is a great addition to the business ecosystem in Dublin.”

 Sheelagh Brady – KowRoo:

“Putting a company together from scratch is a hugely complicated and exciting project. The Startup Loft gives me a dedicated space to expand my business while learning from other entrepreneurs as we move our projects to the next stage. Having access to VCs and AWS experts is an added bonus. ”

 Eoin Le Masney – Vyra:

“The AWS Startup hub has been a game changer for Vyra – we have met some fantastic founders, solved problems with solutions architects and even used the space to pitch to mentors and investors. AWS Startup Loft is always creating value through events and regular check-ins and I know that in the future we will reference the AWS Startup hub as a key ingredient in our early stage success.”