Home - Grit International Female Accelerator

We aim to bridge the gap in gender divide and promote gender equality for females raising investment in digital health and life science industries.

Despite efforts to promote diversity and inclusivity, female founders face significant challenges in accessing funding, with little improvement observed over the past decade. Female founders, globally, receive less funding than their male counterparts.

While there has been some improvements, research has shown that men get 6.2x more funding than women in 2023, as opposed to the 7x more they were receiving in 2022.

Our vision is to improve this gender imbalance and enable diverse founders to thrive and contribute to economic growth.

There is significant evidence that female founders face unique challenges in raising investment, particularly in emerging markets. Accelerator programs which are designed to help companies, represent one potential model for overcoming these challenges, through support services and investment.

Bespoke female accelerator programs, examines through two lenses: first, delivery of best approaches to support female founders; and second, addressing the significant confidence and knowledge gap around fundraising, and therefore developing and designing an accelerator that would provide specific support targeting investment knowledge.

Through our virtual accelerator, we support female founders operating in the digital health and life science space. We provide access to our global network and strengths and connect female founders to potential investors. We also work with investors to understand the importance of investing in female founders.

We provide extensive learnings in how to become investment ready, along with delivering a range of other high-level learnings in a range of bespoke topics. All female founders receive access to our global mentors, experts and international core partners.

The Grit program was absolutely fantastic. I don't know what I enjoyed more, the sessions or having the opportunity to meet the other amazing female founders. The topics covered were really focused on digital health and so we were able to learn about topics that you don't get in general accelerators, such as understanding the payer landscape and reimbursement. Also the networking was fantastic. The other female founders are just absolutely brilliant and I feel so privileged to know them and count them as part of my network. This program is an absolute must for early stage female founders as it helps you better understand all aspects of your business and helps get you investment ready. [Watch my testimonial video HERE.]

Danielle Ralic ANCORA.AI | SWITZERLAND

It was a great opportunity for Diagante and I to be selected to participate in the Grit Accelerator. This program covered different topics such as business, fundraising, and international market specificities and perspectives with amazing experts. Beyond that, it allowed me to develop my network in Europe by meeting other female CEOs around Europe in the health and Life Science industry but also through different experts coming from all over the world. Grit is an excellent program for female founders leading an early stage startup in this industry and looking for international business development.

Cecile Chevalier DIAGANTE | FRANCE

I'm very grateful to Diane Nevin and her team for bringing up this need for a female accelerator and for making it happen as I believe it is crucial to support and promote women in the today business ecosystem as women tend to do magic, not strictly business, women tend to be truly future generations oriented as current or potential mothers. The peer-to-peer format is absolutely genius, I loved it and I recommend it for all "girls' sessions". I am convinced that women, when not falling for a "G.I. Jane" scenario, can do a much better job in groups due to their natural need for support and nurturing and co-creation. [Watch my testimonial video HERE.]

Iryna Gavrylova CMYK INGREDIENTS | BULGARIA

Participating in the Grit Accelerator gave me the opportunity to meet some incredible founders and mentors from around the world. Each week we received expert input and training on different topics relevant to our business, which was interactive and indispensable. I'm very grateful to the team behind Grit, and would recommend it to any female founders who want to gain a better understanding of their business and a different perspective, in a friendly and supportive environment.

Suzanne Moloney HIDRAMED SOLUTIONS | IRELAND

I am very grateful to have joined Grit. It's been truly humbling to learn alongside amazing ladies leading powerful tech companies with worldwide impact and meeting top-level experts specialised in fundraising and MedTech-specific topics. I can attest that there is an immense need for accelerating programs that support female-led ventures, especially in this difficult and highly competitive space. For Emoface, it's been a great learning journey as we were starting our first fundraising. Thank you again, Diane and the wonderful Grit team for this immense opportunity.

Adela Barbulescu EMOFACE | FRANCE

Starting with an excellent networking strategy session was a very good idea to understand how important it is for your project and to make clear the great opportunity we have to expand our international network with this programme. I loved the individual sessions that were delivered and the valuable input to improve our pitches and understand what investors like to see in them. I really appreciated Grit's continued effort to incorporate our suggestions. I now feel part of a community and I am willing to stay in touch to see the impressive evolution that I am sure all the projects and the program itself will have. [Read my full testimonial here.]

Mabel Gimeno DIVE MEDICAL SL | SPAIN

Thanks very much to the Grit team for including Mypatientspace in this program. It was great meeting and sharing with other female entrepreneurs. The standard of mentors on the program was outstanding. We were very grateful for the time they took out of their busy days to present and coach us on their areas of expertise. I would highly recommend this program to female entrepreneurs. We were delighted to win the Microsoft award.

Una Kearns MYPATIENTSPACE | IRELAND

Coming from the scientific world, the Grit programme has equipped me, as a founder, with basic terms, tools and skills I need to professionally drive my company in the business world. During the course we received invaluable training on how to prepare a professional pitch, deck and how to create a cap table. Personal feedback by the course lecturer further produced a high level of products. For me this has been a very important training as the company will keep generating investments. Business development training into different markets has provided significant insights towards the next stages I will need to navigate the company. [Read my full testimonial here.]

Dr Sharon Anavi-Goffer FRIDE PHARMA | UK

As a female entrepreneur in Medtech, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in the Grit International Female Accelerator. The program had a strong emphasis on female entrepreneurship and provided valuable resources and support to help me grow my business and reach new heights. The mentorship and networking opportunities were invaluable and allowed me to connect with like-minded individuals from around the world, including other female entrepreneurs in the same field and industry experts. [Read my full testimonial here.]