Quarterfinal TheNextWomen Pitch Competition at Nyenrode Amsterdam

On 22 June, 18 ambitious women from all over Europe took part in the quarterfinal of TheNextWomen Pitch Competition at Nyenrode Amsterdam.

The quarterfinals of TheNextWomen Pitch Competition were held at Nyenrode Amsterdam on 22 June. A total of 18 ambitious female founders were chosen from over 100 entrants, travelling from across Europe to pitch their startups in front of a jury of five investors. The panel included Laura Rooseboom from Startgreen Capital/One Planet Crowd, Marijke Paaijmans from TheNextWomen Crowd Fund, Nora Coers from TheNextWomen Crowd Fund, Julia Padberg from SET Capital and Julia Wink-Zaanen from 4Impact.

Connecting academics and entrepreneurship

TheNextWomen Pitch Competition is an annual event that invites talented female entrepreneurs to gain exposure, receive valuable feedback and obtain much-needed investments. This year Carol Tarr, BBA lecturer at Nyenrode and Corporate Partnership Manager at TheNextWomen in the Netherlands, forged the connection between both institutions.

According to Ms. Tarr: "It was really inspiring to see female founders lined up, pitching, Skyping in and ultimately supporting each other. It was also great to see Nyenrode so active in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and really supporting women-led initiatives that typically only receive 4% of VC funding. This has to change and it was great to see Nyenrode in action, opening its doors to make a difference."

Pitching a wide range of ideas

Participants pitched ideas ranging from digital products like study apps and vision-correcting health wearables, to tree-free paper and a refugee work placement social enterprise. All participants received valuable jury feedback, and 10 were selected to move forward to the semi-finals in October.

The winner of the event will receive a €20,000 convertible note and exposure to the wider investment community. The stakes are high: last year's finalists raised between €500,000 and €750,000 in investment capital within 6 months after the competition.

Nyenrode staff and students were also invited to attend the pitching sessions.