Cohort Testimonials
Gate2Brain
Meritxell Teixidó
CMYK Ingredients
Iryna Gavrylova
Beyond BMI
Dr Harriet Treacy
Ancora.ai
Danielle Ralic
Omics Chart
Tatsiana Aneichyk
IdentifyHer
Heidi Davis
Dedx
"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.
One of the highlights of the program for me were the sessions on the behind the scenes of VCs. These sessions gave me valuable insights into the world of venture capital and helped me understand how to effectively pitch my business to potential investors. The program also provided training and feedback on how to improve my pitch, which ultimately paid off when I was selected for an award at the pitch ceremony at the end of the program.
The Grit International Female Accelerator challenged me to think outside of the box and pushed me to take risks, which ultimately led to the success of my business. I am so grateful for the support and guidance I received from the Grit team and I highly recommend this program to any woman looking to accelerate their business and make a positive impact in the world." - Iris Wing To Lam
Spiorad
"The Grit Accelerator gave Spiorad Medical and myself a great opportunity to meet supportive industry experts across Europe to mentor different aspects of managing and funding a medical device start up to getting your product to market. I found the content to be incredibly valuable and worthwhile. The 10 week program engaging and enjoyable providing a great platform for pitch deck development and pitching. The Grit Accelerator also allows you to meet other founders in similar areas to develop your network and also problem solve on commonalities noted.
I am very grateful to the Grit team, Laila Engkat, founder Diane Nevin and sponsors of the program for providing this excellent accelerator program and providing Spiorad Medical a wonderful opportunity to participate and continue it’s development with sponsors Boston Scientific. I strongly encourage founders looking to get investment ready apply." - Judi O'Malley
Quant Biomarkers
"Hi we are Sanja and Oksana, Quant Biomarkers company builders. We used Grit program to accelerate our venture in longevity, quantum leap in the fight against chronic disease and delivery of few additional years of healthy life for everyone.
The Grit Accelerator program was an amazing experience and eye-opening journey of 8 weeks course with invaluable learnings, cheery picked speakers, VC experts and 15 ambitious female entrepreneurs.
We grew further with every new lesson by interacting with top experts from different sectors and being able to learn from the founders directly. As we are less than 1 year old startup we learned how to prepare a professional pitch, deck and how to create a cap table.
The VC factory expert gave us personal feedback and exhibited lot of effort, availability for discussion that helped us to address key questions in our approach to investors.
The Grit International Female Accelerator challenged us to re-think our story telling approach, get out of the comfort zone and take risks to differentiate and be noticed, stand out.
As I have been exposed to the US HAE Accelerator – Harvard Alumni I had chance to compare the US and the EU programs and can say that Grit International has developed very high quality program and engagement.
We are thankful to have met such an amazing group of female founders, who shared their experiences and knowledge.
Thank you Laila and Diane for your open-door policy, hands on to address the needs & leads of the founders and for the tireless motivation." - Sanja Baumann-Tomovska
Mypatientspace
"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
Emoface
"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
Komed Health AG
"The Grit accelerator offers a great program for early stage healthcare startups.
I enjoyed being part of it and connecting with other inspiring female entrepreneurs." - Luiza Dobre
Blazar
"I believe the program was great, the experts were just on point to
understand the companies, the founders, their markets, how to boost
the founders knowledge and contribute to their autonomy and robust decision-making.
Female founders were treated as grown ups taking care of their businesses. That's all they ask for.
Definitely recommend the program. Thank you to Diane and Laila" - Dora Sabino
Fride Pharma
"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.
As a female, the course was led by the amazing Diane Nevin, who created a safe environment for us to share information and feelings. Diane dedicated her time to us, united the different founders into a cohort which moves towards the goal together.
Diane’s personal input, her dedication to take care of all small details and her help to solve personal problems
due to work and family commitments has made it possible for all of us to complete the programme and enjoy it." - Dr Sharon Anavi-Goffer
Breaz
"First, it provided 10 weeks of really insightful lectures, workshops and masterclasses on anything from cybersecurity, AI in healthcare, international market opportunities to how to hire and manage your team and particularly how to fund this journey. All the sessions were held by international experts, which were all very open for further discussion and stay on these extra minutes to address all our questions.
Second, an important reason to apply was to connect with other female founders. Coming from research, I was actively looking for for female entrepreneurs and role models. And I have to say, I found them. I am really happy to have met such an amazing set of female founders, lecturers and mentors, who shared their experiences and knowledge. I am also happy that the program has so many male supporters, that really understanding some of the additional challenges women are facing and that they actively want to change that.
Overall, the program really helped me at such an early stage to think more globally, allowing me to identify and leverage international opportunities early on. In addition, it was a safe and fun space where people could learn with and from each other and I am sure we will benefit from our network in the future." - Petra Stockinger
CMYK Ingredients
"I'm Iryna, a founder of a bio-tech deep-tech startup and an alumni of the first cohort of the International Female Accelerator. Those 9 1/2 weeks were important and challenging for me. Nearly every mentor made me face a gap in my business model, pitchdeck, approach to HR and cyber security matters, etc, etc. I am an experienced entrepreneur, I built and sold my first startup by the age of 21, I've been running my fairly successful deep-tech startup for 5 years, I mentored startup founders myself, and yet it was a great experience with lots of benefits for me, my team, and my business. After the intense panel discussion on pitchdecks hosted by Aram Attar, a VC and founder at VC Factory, I felt like I've been plugged into the VC's DNA somehow, I'm clear now on why we've been rejected so many times and why we are currently underfunded. Conclusions made, we've taken action and are taking another approach to financing and declaring ourselves to the industry.
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." - Iryna Gavrylova
Ancora.ai AG
"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." - Danielle Ralic
DIAGANTE
"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
OMICSCHART
"Hi, I am Tatsiana – a founder of OmicsChart – a digital platform for biomarker evaluation in cancer. I participated in Grit Accelerator cohort 2022.
Grit accelerator was an excellent opportunity for us, the founders, to meet and learn from experts in the fields of business development, fundraising, digital health and associated regulations, ethics considerations of working with patients and their data and many more.
What I enjoyed the most was meeting fellow female founders and learning about the amazing, inspiring startups, that they were building and how they overcome common biases against women and minorities in the business world.
The gender disparity in funding of startups is overwhelming and yet often ignored. GRIT accelerator gave an opportunity to identify common issues that are faced by female founders and develop a strategy on how to address them. That kind of mentoring is hard to find.
I am proud to say that OmicsChart became a winner of Cohort 2022 Closing ceremony, selected by one of the GRIT Accelerator partners Microsoft. I am looking forward to start that collaboration and it is thanks to GRIT accelerator that we have this amazing opportunity.
If you are a female founder and find yourself struggling in navigating the business world, GRIT accelerator is an excellent place for you to be." - Tatsiana Aneichyk
DIVE MEDICAL SL
"I highly recommend the Grit Female Founders Accelerator program. First of all, I would like to thank all the sponsors for making this kind of international program possible. And especially for making it happen for women-led companies. We know that the business world is a bit more difficult for us.
Diane and Laila were able to bring in really high level speakers willing to support the 16 projects and create a great atmosphere among the group. We were able to navigate all the issues that a healthcare startup has to deal with in a way that sharing and solving problems specific to your company was very easy.
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." - Mabel Gimeno
EquiTrace
"Being in the Grit accelerator has been such a positive experience. We have had great speakers throughout the program. I found the program gave fantastic insights into how VCs think, what a pitch looks like from an investors point of view and has helped me prepare for our next investment raise.
This program walks you through all aspects of the start up world sources of funding, grants, cyber security, patents. It is very practical. Being in a female accelerator is empowering. The 2022 cohort had some really inspiring women doing important work in cancer, surgery, mental health and medicine it was great to meet them and extend my network.
We need their companies to succeed to make the world a better place, this program will help them do that. I would encourage any female founder to apply." - Jennifer Corley
HIDRAMED SOLUTIONS
