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Key people at The Female Experience.
The Female Experience was founded by Lisa Molinaro (Founder and Executive Director).
Female Founders is a platform fostering female entrepreneurship and leadership within the European tech ecosystem. Its core offering, the Female Founders Experience (FFX), consists of curated events for deep connections among founders, investors, and leaders. The organization also manages Fund F, a venture capital fund investing in pre-seed and seed-stage companies with gender-diverse founding teams, providing capital and strategic support.
Founded in 2016 by Lisa-Marie Fassl and Nina Wöss, Female Founders emerged from the insight that significant gender disparity existed in European startups, particularly in access to capital and networks. They established the organization to bridge these gaps, building a comprehensive support ecosystem for female entrepreneurs.
Female Founders serves entrepreneurs, investors, and women in leadership across corporate and tech. Its long-term vision is to reshape the European tech community by advancing equality, championing funding fairness, and driving sustainable innovation. The company empowers women to build and scale ventures, fostering an inclusive and equitable future.
The Female Experience was founded by Lisa Molinaro (Founder and Executive Director).
Key people at The Female Experience.
The Female Founders Experience (FFX), organized by Female Founders—a Vienna-based organization—is an exclusive, women-only event and community initiative focused on fostering authentic connections among female founders, investors, and leaders in Europe's tech and startup ecosystem.[1] It emphasizes community, capital, and cultural change to address gaps in funding fairness and gender equality, through curated formats like Sharing Circles, Round Tables, Reverse Pitching, and Guided Networking, rather than traditional conferences.[1] As part of a 10-year movement partnering with entities like Female Founder Initiative and Impact Hub, it supports women from pre-seed to pre-exit stages, helping them build lasting relationships and advance sustainable innovation.[1]
Female Founders, the entity behind FFX, operates as a registered company in Vienna (Commercial Register Number: FN 507627k, VAT: ATU74135278) with the core object of promoting, supporting, and counseling women in the entrepreneurial scene.[1] Managed by Mag. Natascha Fürst, MSc, it has evolved over 10 years into Europe's largest and fastest-growing community for women in tech, responding to ecosystem challenges by creating safe, judgment-free spaces amid a "crazy" world.[1] The FFX concept emerged as a bold alternative to overwhelming networking events, bundling strengths with partners to host in locations like Switzerland, prioritizing deep collaboration over superficial sessions.[1]
FFX rides the wave of gender equity trends in Europe's startup ecosystem, where women face funding disparities and isolation, by creating intentional spaces for collaboration amid rising demand for diverse leadership.[1] Timing aligns with growing recognition of women-led innovation, as seen in partnerships like Impact Hub and Female Founder Initiative, countering traditional male-dominated events with formats that prioritize authenticity over pitches.[1] Market forces favoring it include Europe's tech boom, investor appetite for diverse deal flow, and cultural shifts toward inclusive ecosystems, positioning Female Founders to influence policy, funding, and networks for sustainable change.[1]
FFX and Female Founders are poised to expand as Europe's women-in-tech movement scales, potentially hosting more international editions and integrating tech tools for year-round virtual connections. Trends like AI-driven matchmaking and hybrid events will amplify their reach, while persistent funding gaps ensure demand; their influence may evolve toward policy advocacy and global alliances, solidifying a transformative role in startup equity.[1] This curated approach, born from real ecosystem pain points, continues to redefine connections for lasting impact.
