Data platform TechIreland have announced a new campaign aimed at increasing the level of funding by Irish women tech company founders to more than €100m in 2018.
The €100m Campaign aims to build upon the €79m raised by female founders in 2017 - just under 14% of the total amount raised by Irish tech founders.
Led by former Startup Commissioner for Dublin Niamh Bushnell, TechIreland will apply their research and data science processes to assist organisations involved in supporting female entrepreneurship in measuring their impact - the goal being to maximize their funding potential.
"This campaign is about much more than leveraging a data-driven capability we have," says Bushnell, "it’s about TechIreland tracking innovative female founders and playing our part to promote more seats at the funding table for them."
At present, TechIreland are monitoring and showcasing some 296 Irish female-founded companies. The largest funding rounds for businesses led by women founders in 2017 went to Global Shares (€4.5m), Axonista (€1.7m) and Soapbox Labs (€1.2m) in Q1; Madme (€1.3m), Popertee (€500,000) and Nova Leah (€422,000) in Q2; Tandem HR Solutions (€2m), WarDucks (€1.3m) and Homestay (€750,000) in Q3; and TransferMate (€30m), Nuritas (€16m) and GC Aesthetics (€4.2m) in Q4.
Niamh Bushnell stresses that the project is not just about funding: "It’s about encouraging women to seek co-founder roles in early stage companies, encouraging more women to set up their own companies, and supporting them well beyond the point when they feel confident enough to declare their out-sized funding and business ambitions."
Female founders are also being invited join a private database where they can share their funding ambitions for 2018 and encourage each other to, in Bushnell's words, 'reach, increase and overachieve on their goals'.
Find out more about the €100m Campaign here.
