Testimonials
Cohort 1/2022 Testimonials
Testimonial Video by Dr Harriet Treacy
Beyond BMI
Dr Harriet Treacy
We're an innovative digital health company that provides people who are living with obesity to receive medical and dietary treatment for their obesity. We are an end-to-end telemedicine obesity treatment solution for men.
We partner with the leading clinical obesity specialists to enable them to offer their medical solutions to our client base who are looking for evidence-based solutions to lose weight and gain health.
To learn more about Beyond BMI:
Testimonial Video by Tatsiana Aneichyk
OMICSCHART
Tatsiana Aneichyk
"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."
To learn more about OmicsChart:
Testimonial Video by Iryna Gavrylova
CMYK Ingredients
Iryna Gavrylova
"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."
To learn more about CMYK Ingredients:
Testimonial Video by Heidi Davis
IdentifyHer
Heidi Davis
identifyHer is a digital health company providing predictive health services for women going through the menopausal transition and beyond. There are no strategies to specifically address the healthcare needs of women, despite presenting different symptoms and prevalence rates for some chronic diseases to men. Women are underdiagnosed, receive sub-optimal care, are underrepresented in clinical trials and can be twice as likely to suffer adverse events from drugs. There is little consideration to the effect of menopausal symptoms on future health risk and, collectively, this results in women living ~20% of their lives with chronic disease.
identifyHer will use biosensor enabled AI to achieve our ambitious mission: 'increase the number of DISEASE FREE YEARS to allow women to live HEALTHY, LONGER'
To learn more about identifyHer:
Ancora.ai AG
Danielle Ralic
Ancora.ai AG
Danielle Ralic
"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."
To learn more about Ancora.ai AG:
HidraMed Solutions
Suzanne Moloney
HidraMed Solutions
Suzanne Moloney
"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."
To learn more about HidraMed Solutions:
Breaz
Petra Stockinger
Breaz
Petra Stockinger
"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."
To learn more about Breaz:
EquiTrace
Jennifer Corley
EquiTrace
Jennifer Corley
"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."
To learn more about EquiTrace:
Fride Pharma
Dr Sharon Anavi-Goffer
Fride Pharma
Dr Sharon Anavi-Goffer
"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."
To learn more about Fride Pharma Ltd:
DIAGANTE
Cecile Chevalier
DIAGANTE
Cecile Chevalier
"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."
To learn more about Diagante:
DIVE MEDICAL SL
Mabel Gimeno
DIVE MEDICAL SL
Mabel Gimeno
"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".
