Gender balance in the entrepreneurial ecosystem has been historically poor. The world of business is male-dominated and too often women and those not-identifying as male are cut off from accessing funding and reaching the top level of their career. Male founders still account for the majority of successful international companies. 

For a venture to succeed on an international scale, startups need to access new markets. Given that women traditionally have less access to the upper echelons of business, expanding into new markets can be made more difficult as they have fewer connections and fewer opportunities. 

Through initiatives like Rocket-up, Supernovas support ventures to achieve growth by giving founders the vital network and international expansion tools. It’s part of a commitment to help bring about gender balance in the European startup ecosystem. 

Rocket-up is a 3-month programme that supports women-led startups in accessing a new country or region by connecting them with experts and networking opportunities in the target market. The programme is looking for startups with a product-market-fit, are based in the  EU or EU related countries, that add to the Sustainable Development Goals and address challenges related to EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Manufacturing or EIT Food focus areas.

 

How we do it?

We scout and identify industry experts that can fulfil the needs of the selected startups, with the aim of helping the team access new markets, providing expert advice on the new ecosystem, connections to potential customers and soft-landing resources.

This is done through 3 mechanisms:

1. An internationalisation squad: handpicked local experts that provide tailor-made mentoring sessions.
2. Organised mission: coordinating a full day of visits and meetings in the target market with potential stakeholders
3. Group training: online role model speakers and workshops on internationalization topics.

Benefits:

• Tailored and individual mentoring for a new market entry
• Organised mission to target city
• Online group events & connection with other entrepreneurial women
• Access to the EIT network and financial opportunities
• Visibility through EIT communication channels

Who is eligible?

Companies that, at the submission stage, identify with the following:

• Startup in Urban Mobility, Food or Manufacturing
  • Ventures with scalable and highly innovative business models and defined as SME in sectors related with Urban Mobility, Food or Manufacturing.
• Female-led, which means:
  • The CEO is a woman
  • >50% of the founding members are women
  • >50% of the capital is held by a women (before dilution)
• Product-market-fit
  • The startup has successfully identified your target customer, launched an operational product and are creating retention.
• Based in EU or Horizon Europe associated countries
  • The startup has a legal entity based in a member state of the European Union or Horizon Europe associated countries.
• Wanting to internationalise
  • The startup has the ambition of strong growth; has as next milestone to scale the business across borders.