A Finnish cmpany takes 2nd place at Women Startup Competition Europe
On Saturday, June 4th 2016, the third Women Startup Competition took place in Budapest, Hungary. Out of over 150 applicants from all over Europe, an online jury selected a shortlist of 12 startups led by women. After a 5-day-long intensive training in Budapest and live 2-minute pitches at Demo Day, four winners were selected by a panel of nine judges. The Finnish startup Kids Friendly Media Oy got second place in the competition with its FamilyWithKids.com project.
The winners were selected based on their pitches and the potential success of each project. The main goal of the competition is to increase awareness of female entrepreneurship in Europe, to bring the women-led startups into the spotlight, and to help them meet the investors of their dreams.The Demo Day took place at the Akvarium Klub, as a closing event of Brain Bar Budapest - a unique international think tank festival in the heart of Europe.
“While in Europe, the number of female-founded startups is below 21%, we feel that there is a need to inspire, educate and unite them whenever we can. The Women Startup Competition is an excellent place for that. Beyond this, the successful women entrepreneurs will be the next generation of Women Angel and VC investors, of whom there is only 6% now in the EU” – says Támas Muller, founder of the contest.
FamilyWithKids.com is an online global marketplace for kids-friendly services. It is a unified source of structured and moderated information, designed to help busy parents discover, evaluate and book the kids-friendly services they need. The platform is freemium, so any company that serves the family is added to the directory for free. The project is led by Viktoriia Krasilshchikova, a working mother of three, and a New York University graduate with over 10 years of experience in online-marketing and PR.
The company’s pilot project (KidsReview.ru) was launched on the Russian market in 2010, it reached the break-even point in 5 years, and is currently used by 8 million families in the region. Kids Friendly Media Oy plans to build on the experience gained, and to cover EU and US by the end of 2017.
The full list of winners of Women Startup Competition Europe 2016:
Bookr Kids (Hungary)
Kids Friendly Media Oy (Finland)
BloomyLoom (Hungary)
ClearKarma (Austria)
The shortlist included companies from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. Official website of Women Startup Competition Europe: http://www.womenstartupcompetition.com/