Ten women entrepreneurs have been selected to join the Electrify Accelerator, an initiative led by Ministry of Awesome to answer long-standing gender inequality issues in the high growth startup world.
Backed by NZ’s most experienced venture capital firms, government startup founders and mentors, the 12-week accelerator programme aims to prepare and ‘turbocharge’ early-stage women-led ventures for scaling and investment.
The ten finalists teams selected into the accelerator programme are (in no particular order):
Afis founded by Erin Yin – A Fintech solution using AI for decision making for accounting practitioners
Bounsa founded by Rachel Smith and Sophie Stanley –A platform for bouncing ideas and challenges off experts
Volo founded by Raffaella del Prete – A digital transformation service that helps enterprises transform to cloud-native SaaS.
Dust and Glow founded by Gaelle Thieme – NZ made waterless haircare & skincare formulas without the plastic & water waste.
O|ur Closet founded by Rosie de Malmanche – Designer rental platform for a fraction of the retail price
Dune founded by Charlotte Becconsall – Drone technology to monitor coastal environments
Hitch founded by Claudia Grave – Helping businesses to measure, report and reduce commuting related emissions
Remly founded by Emily Aung – An HR solution that connects a community of students and young professionals with professionals to find what career to pursue and get the skills needed and get hired.
Ma Innovations founded by Aida Rasmussen – Healthcare devices for home
On You founded by Lucy Pink – An ethical fashion marketplace with a focus on garment worker welfare
Designed to inspire and activate more women into the startup founder pipeline, the Electrify Accelerator programme has received considerable attention and support in amplifying awareness of the challenges women entrepreneurs face globally in securing investment. The programme also set in motion the first steps in building a clearer path toward success for Aotearoa’s wāhine founders.
Launched in February this year, Electrify Accelerator received 123 registrations from women entrepreneurs across Aotearoa working in areas such as technology, health, beauty and wellbeing, energy,food and beverage, and eCommerce among others. Of the total applications, 15 were shortlisted by a panel made up of participating investors and Ministry of Awesome’s startup executives.
All participating startup teams will be flown down for the opening accelerator bootcamp which will take place on the 9th of May in Christchurch. After meeting the Electrify Accelerator programme team, fellow participants, mentors, advisors, and commercialisation experts, participants will return home to continue the programme virtually. The executive virtual programme includes masterclasses and mentor sessions conducted by industry leadership teams including Ministry of Awesome, Blackbird Ventures, GD1, Hillfarrance, Pacific Channel, Punakaiki Fund, Quidnet, and K1W1.
“There is a good variety of sectors and astonishing ambition in the mix,” says Marian Johnson, Chief Awesome Officer at Ministry of Awesome. “We are delighted to welcome these talented women founders for the opening bootcamp and look forward to growing their ventures through the Electrify Accelerator.”
Electrify Accelerator is powered by by ChristchurchNZ, MBIE and NZ Growth Capital Partners and supported by Amazon Web Services and MYOB.
Learn more about the startups @ electrifyaccelerator.co.nz