The European tech community is still dominated by men – The State of European Tech Report shows that only 22% of tech-event attendees are female, having made little progress from 2017 to 2018.
Portugal ranks in the top 10 countries with tech events more attended by females, with a proportion of female attendees that is only 25% (the highest ranking country is Albania with 33%).
Even though the community is far away from the ideal rate of gender diversity and inclusion (especially when it comes to investment as 93% of all funds raised by European VC-backed companies in 2018 went to all-male founding teams), there are some amazing women who founded startups in Portugal and abroad and are kicking ass in the industry.
Here are some of the Portuguese women-founded tech startups:
Tonic App
An app for medical doctors that aggregates the most useful medical tools and has a secure case discussion platform. It increases the efficiency of clinical work: allows fast and safe discussion of patient cases, team collaboration and aggregates content for day-to-day professional use, such as drug conversion tables or clinical calculators.
Founded Date: Apr 2016
Co-founder: Daniela Seixas
Daniela is a neuroradiologist, with an Executive MBA at IE Business School (2015). With a PhD in Neuroscience (collaborating with the University of Oxford, UK), she founded Tonic App in 2016 with 3 other founders. She is currently Tonic’s CEO and an affiliate professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Porto University.
Levoo
Levoo is an app that aims to become a leading delivery and take-away services company. You can use the app (or their physical kiosks) to order food instead of waiting in line, and you’ll be notified to pick it up when it’s ready – you can use your time for other things in the meantime.
Founded date: 2015
Co-founder: Anna Arany
Originally from Brazil, Anna flew to Portugal almost 12 years ago and was involved in several projects in the food service area. She co-founded Levoo in 2015 and is currently the company’s CMO.
Sparkl
Sparkl provides the world of beauty services in the comfort of your own home. Book an appointment through Sparkl’s website and get a Sparkl-approved professional to deliver the service in your own home, at a fixed rate.
Founded date: 2016
Co-founder: Mariana Romão
With over 6 years of experience in the business of Beauty, Mariana co-founded Sparkl in 2016 and became one of the startups backed by LC Ventures.
Mellow
Mellow is a sous-vide machine that takes orders through your smartphone and keeps food cold until it’s the right time to start cooking for you remotely. A technique that is widely used by chefs and that Mellow makes available at home, with an integrated app that provides smart control.
Founded date: January 29th, 2014
Co-founder: Catarina Violante
With a background in industrial design and postgraduate studies in Product Design, Catarina founded Mellow in 2014. She has designed numerous kitchen products over the years and is currently VP of product.
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is a contact center platform that empowers companies to make the customer experience a competitive advantage for their business. Talkdesk allows business to create a call center in minutes and integrate it with a variety of top business tools.
Founded Date: October 10th, 2011
Co-founder: Cristina Fonseca
Cristina is a software engineer and entrepreneur. She holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunications and Software Engineering and before founding Talkdesk in 2011 she worked as a researcher and built two other online businesses. She currently is a co-founder and Venture Partner of Indico Capital Partners – a leading institutional and independent venture capital firm based Lisbon focusing on Seed to Series A companies in fields like SaaS, Artificial Intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity and digital startups.
MUB Cargo
MUB cargo is an online platform that connects people and companies that need to transport cargo with a network of transporters willing to pickup and deliver those items. MUB cargo gives access to an online platform with several cargo requests that helps transporter maximize their capacity, taking advantage of the average 30% wasted capacity on every trip that is made while helping people in need of cargo transport an easy way to access transportation solutions at affordable prices.
Founded Date: March 2016
Co-founder: Mariana Gomes
With an educational background in Services Management and Business Administration, Mariana is a two-time founder (having previously founded Shairart). She is the Managing Director of MUB Cargo, that closed a Seed Round of €500k in March 2018 and now operates in both Portugal and Spain.
To all women co-founders and tech professionals, we wish a wonderful International Women’s Day!