5 cybersecurity graduate startups led by women
The I Edition of "Women4Cyber Startup School" ends successfully.
Women4Cyber Spain and Tetuan Valley celebrate a Demo Day with the 5 selected projects with record attendance.
Google for Startups and VASS, sponsors of the program, celebrate its success and look forward to more editions.
June 30, Google for Startups Madrid Auditorium: Despite the intense activity at the end of the month in Madrid, last Thursday the GFS Auditorium was full again to celebrate a very special event, the finale of the entrepreneurship program.
Graduated teams at Demo Day
Women4Cyber Startup School is a training and mentoring program designed to support startups with solutions in the field of cybersecurity and that have women in the founding team. The program is free for participants and once completed, they become part of the most dynamic entrepreneurial communities in the ecosystem.
The event began with a welcome speech by Tamara Lucas, Marketing Manager of Google for Startups Madrid and after her, Íñigo Peña, CEO of Tetuan Valley gave a brief overview of the history of this association that has been working with entrepreneurship for more than 13 years. Daniela Kominsky and Julia Perea, both members of the Board of Directors of Women4Cyber Spain, also welcomed the attendees.
After them, Lola Rebollo, Deputy Director of Industry Promotion and R+D+i at INCIBE, greeted the participants and invited them to participate in the calls of the National Institute of Cybersecurity. Enrique Serrano, founder of Hackrocks told in his talk some of the real threats we face and Azucena Hernandez, founder of Eurocybcar gave an inspiring talk about her entrepreneurial experience. Finally, Raquel Romano and Carolina Gómez, both from VASS, sponsor of the event, talked about the importance of encouraging and retaining talent in cybersecurity.
Once the inspirational talks were over, it was time for the projects:
Lorena Ionescu - Dotnetsafer
Vitori Hernández - Intrepit
Gema Díaz - Educasec
Violeta Montesino - APIQuality
Natalia Moreno - Cybercrin
Women startup entrepreneurs, with Women4Cyber and Tetuan Valley
The projects pointed out that programs of this type are a great booster for their projection and growth. From the beginning of the program at the beginning of May until the end of June, the evolution of the projects has been really positive.
The Association Women4Cyber Spain is the Spanish chapter of Women4Cyber.eu, founded by the European Cybersecurity Organization (ECSO) and the first European-backed association of women in cybersecurity in Spain. Tetuan ValleySince 2009, it has been supporting entrepreneurs in their initial stages through training and community.
This initiative responds to a key moment for cybersecurity at a global level and to the demands for greater visibility for the role that women play in a sector in which they are underrepresented. Through this program, the teams have been able to develop their business idea and learn about the main aspects that will allow them to present their project to investors and stakeholders.
During these weeks, the teams have gone through a complete training program with experts in entrepreneurship. From Alejandro Barrera, one of the founders of Tetuan Valley and regular conductor of the introductory session "Effective Presentations" to the closing session with Annybell Villarroel and the importance of the culture of safety and trust at work. The students received blueprinting workshops with Sonia Villanueva and Ivo Vilches and marketing, sales and financing sessions with Daniela Kominsky, Katelyn Melan and Paloma Cañete.
In addition to these sessions, there was the usual "Hackathon", where individual mentors had the opportunity to work together with all the entrepreneurs and the Tetuan Valley community. The high level of the mentors, including Ramés Sarwat, Pablo San Emeterio, Cristina Bentúe and Azucena Hernández, has been key to the evolution of the projects and one of the great attractions of the program.
Finally, after a session dedicated to "pitch & feedback" to polish the presentation of the projects, the 5 spokeswomen were able to tell their projects and vision to a specialized audience.
The initiative is supported by Google for StartupsGoogle, as a partner of Tetuan Valley, which thus reinforces its commitment to startups in the cybersecurity sector and with VASS as a sponsor betting on entrepreneurial talent and the presence of more women in technical fields.
If you are thinking about entrepreneurship and launching your startup, apply to the 22nd edition of our Startup School. Learn from experts and be part of our community of entrepreneurs.