EmpoWomen Open Call #2

Submission

EmpoWomen_OC#2 is committed to supporting women-led deep-tech startups in Widening Areas, particularly at the early stages. In the second open call, the EmpoWomen project will provide equity-free funding and support services to up to 14 women-led startups.

Each selected startup will have access to a 6-month program, which includes dedicated acceleration and investment readiness support services.

The submission of proposals will be done through the SPLORO online submission platform. Only applications received directly through the online submission platform will be considered eligible.

Evaluation Process

1. Eligibility criteria: An automatic filter to discard non-eligible proposals.
2. Experts’ remote evaluation: Applications will be assessed by a group of external and independent evaluators with an entrepreneurial, investment or innovation background. The evaluators will assess the proposals based on 3 different evaluation criteria (Excellence, Impact and Implementation).
3. Normalisation score: Method to ensure a more balanced distribution of scores and reduce the possibility of biases and distortions.
4. Interview stage: Top-ranked projects will be invited to participate in an online interview. Evaluators will individually determine if the proposal should move forward based on a yes/no decision.
5. Final Selection: All proposals are ranked based on their remote evaluation scores and interview stage. In the event of a tie, a series of rules will be followed that will make it possible to reach a tiebreaker.

More information can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants.

Web address for further information: www.empowomen.eu

Email address for further information: helpdesk@empowomen.eu

Eligible Countries

• Widening Area Countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
• Associated countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.
• Outermost regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France) and the Canary Islands (Spain).

Should the definition of Widening Area be updated by the EU, our restrictions may change. The valid list will be the existing one at the time of the closure of the call.

Financial Support

The financial support provided by the EmpoWomen project will consist of three key components:

1. Grant: Startups will receive a grant of up to 45,000 EUR. This funding is intended to support essential activities for business development, as well as to cover their participation in the acceleration program. The grant will be distributed in three phases, each aligned with key milestones in the EmpoWomen acceleration program.
2. Demo Day Prizes: The Demo Day will provide beneficiaries with the opportunity to present their startups to both programme mentors and external judges. On this day, the EmpoWomen Awards Ceremony will also take place, where startups will be assessed on their performance and potential. The top three startups chosen during this event will receive project prizes according to their ranking: Prize 1: 15,000 EUR; Prize 2: 11,500 EUR; Prize 3: 6,000 EUR.
3. Vouchers: The acceleration programme incorporates three distinct vouchers aimed at enhancing the entrepreneurial journey.

- Voucher 1. Access to Events: Covering expenses for attending EU tech summits. Valued at 5,000 EUR per startup.

- Voucher 2. Business Angels (BA) Investment Readiness Programme: Dedicated programme on business angels’ investment provided directly by real angel investors. Valued at 2,400 EUR per startup.

- Voucher 3. Mentoring: up to 16 sessions of a dedicated mentor for the company. Valued at 5,000 EUR per startup.