The participating organizations in the Women Entrepreneurs Alliance (WE Alliance) do not simply want to launch yet another support program; instead, they aim to better connect existing structures and refer female founders more purposefully to the right contact persons depending on their needs and company stage.
For female founders, the collaboration is primarily intended to simplify the search for the right offer. Instead of having to find out for themselves which institution is responsible for financing, coaching, networking, or a specific startup phase, the members will refer them to one another. Gründerland Bayern provides a central overview of support services for female founders on its homepage. The initiative of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs generally covers topics such as financing and funding, consulting and coaching, as well as networks and infrastructure.
With this, the WE Alliance relies on a navigational guide approach that is already fundamentally established in the Bavarian startup ecosystem. The Gründerlotse Bayern also connects prospective entrepreneurs with suitable offerings in financing and funding, consulting and coaching, as well as networks and infrastructure, depending on their project.
WE Alliance Connects Consulting, Coaching, Networks, and Capital
For the WE Alliance, the specific focus is now on connecting offerings for female founders in Munich’s innovation ecosystem. Some of the integrated formats will continue to be open to male founders as well.
The need for coordination also stems from the breadth of existing structures. Special programs and networks already exist for female founders in Bavaria. In addition, there are general offerings open to women and men alike. Gründerland Bayern highlights Women Start-up, One Mission, and EXIST-Women as targeted support programs, among others.
17 Founding Members Cover Key Parts of Munich’s Startup Ecosystem
At launch, the Women Entrepreneurs Alliance comprises 17 organizations:
- BayFor
- BayStartUP
- BioM
- Businettes
- gate Garching
- GründerRegioM – guide project
- HOCHSPRUNG
- IHK München und Oberbayern
- JUNE MINDS
- Landeshauptstadt München
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
- MUNICH INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
- Munich Startup
- net4tec
- Technische Universität München (TUM)
- UnternehmerTUM
- WERK1
As a result, the WE Alliance brings together universities and research institutions, startup centers, funding organizations, corporations, and stakeholders from financing and networking, among others. The initiative is supported by Gründerland Bayern.
This composition enables the alliance to cover different stages of founding a startup. For example, BayStartUP operates an extensive investor network and offers financing coaching, while HOCHSPRUNG, as the entrepreneurship network of Bavarian universities, focuses on university-affiliated startups.
Arno Eggers, Head of Munich Startup:
“With the Women Entrepreneurs Alliance, we are joining numerous forces! For us at Munich Startup as a founding member, it is a key priority to raise the visibility of existing offerings and create real synergies rather than building parallel structures. That’s how we ensure that female founders easily find precisely the targeted support they need for their success at every stage of their journey.”
Presentation of the Women Entrepreneurs Alliance at Bits & Pretzels
The new alliance plans to make its public debut at the startup conference Bits & Pretzels. There, the initiative will be introduced to an audience of startups, investors, and other ecosystem stakeholders. Bits & Pretzels will take place in Munich from September 28 to 30.
