From HER FUND to SCALE’HER: Empowering the Future of Women Entrepreneurs

As you know HER FUND, the pan-European initiative designed to support women-led businesses through gender-sensitive investment, is driving significant change in the startup ecosystem.

With a clear focus on fostering knowledge exchange and creating synergies between policymakers, investors, and business accelerators, HER FUND is set to unlock growth opportunities for female entrepreneurs across Europe. Running from March 2024 to March 2026, the project brings together nine partners from seven European countries including The Edge (BG), ADDSEN (SK), WILLA (FR), UPTEC (PT), Grit International Female Network (IE), JOIST Innovation Park (GR), Euronovia (FR), DIR.BG (BG) and WonderCoders (DK).

These organisations form a powerful mix of investors, accelerators, media, and ecosystem builders, working together to promote gender-conscious investment practices and better conditions for women-led startups across both better- and less-connected innovation ecosystems.

But the journey doesn’t stop there. Enter SCALE’HER, the « little sister » project, which aims to take the mission even further by specifically targeting the scaling of women-led startups in high-growth sectors such as digital and deep tech.

Launched in July 2025 and running through December 2027, SCALE’HER is backed by almost €2 million and a consortium of 10 partners from 9 countries.  It builds directly on the HER FUND network: most partners continue into SCALE’HER : The Edge (BG), ADDSEN (SK), UPTEC (PT), Grit International Female Network (IE), JOIST Innovation Park (GR), Euronovia (FR), DIR.BG (BG) and WonderCoders (DK) while two new organisations join the family:

• Wonderfund (SE) – now coordinating the consortium and bringing strong expertise in funding and growth for innovative ventures.
• C-EDU – Cluster de Educație (RO) – expanding the project’s reach into Eastern Europe and strengthening links with education and innovation ecosystems.

Through this expanded partnership, SCALE’HER focuses on providing tailored support to help women-led startups grow, enhance their leadership capacity, validate their market presence, and expand their reach within European innovation ecosystems especially in strategic deep tech and digital markets.

This transition from HER FUND to SCALE’HER signals a key step in the evolution of Europe’s commitment to female entrepreneurship. HER FUND has concentrated on building a strong, gender-conscious investor and accelerator network; SCALE’HER is designed to turn this network into concrete, scalable action for startups ready to grow.

For startups, this means new opportunities for mentorship, training, access to investors, and international expansion within a trusted pan-European consortium. For investors and policymakers, it is a chance to contribute to an initiative that is reshaping the future of business and making a tangible impact on gender equality in entrepreneurship.

In essence, HER FUND laid the groundwork and forged the partnerships and now SCALE’HER, with an even broader consortium, is set to take those partnerships and women-led startups to the next level.