Despite capital still flowing disproportionately elsewhere, women across Europe are not waiting for permission to build.
As they quietly raise rounds, secure grants, commission factories, test full-scale systems and scale industrial technologies to define the next decade.
Last month alone, female founder-led startups across Europe made headlines:
Einride raised $113 million to accelerate autonomous, electric freight
Verley secured €32 million to scale cow-free whey proteins internationally
nuuEnergy closed €4.3 million to expand regional heat-pump deployment
MicroHarvest advanced its first industrial-scale microbial protein plant
Flox Intelligence secured €2.5 million for its AI-powered wildlife protection
Seabound completed full-scale testing of modular carbon capture at sea
Recupere raised €5 million to turn scrap copper into high-conductivity wire
With this year’s theme for International Women’s Day Give to Gain in mind, this week we give visibility to 100 Women building Europe’s industrial renaissance across freight, energy, manufacturing, materials and food.
Join hundreds of Founders and Funders at the HackSummit this April 22-23
The next decade will be shaped by those who can build and scale critical assets under constraint: physical, biological, regulatory and geopolitical.
Surround yourself with bold builders unlocking Europe’s Industrial Renaissance at the HackSummit in Lausanne Switzerland.
In today’s edition:
🧑🔬 101 Women Founders in HardTech for Climate
🎤 5 Female Partners and Founders on Stage
🎥 What, why and who is the HackSummit for
♀ 100 + 1 Women Behind Europe’s Climate Hard Tech
From AI-powered peptide discovery and precision fermentation to battery recycling, carbon capture and biodiversity intelligence, the next wave of climate infrastructure is being built with grit and engineering at its core.
What’s striking is not just the technologies themselves, but who is building them.
A powerful cohort of women Founders and CEOs are redefining what climate leadership looks like as they rewire supply chains, restore nature at scale, transform food systems, decarbonise heavy industry and reinvent industrial chemistry.
Ahead of International Women’s Day, we highlight 100 women behind Europe’s industrial renaissance to showcase the builders turning Europe’s climate ambition into reality.
Have your say: Who is top of mind for you? Nominate the 101st Woman in Climate here.
🎤 Who You’ll Hear from at HackSummit
The HackSummit lineup is brimming with talent as Founders and Partners join us on stage to share their stories, strategies and grit to scale the future of Hard Tech.
A snapshot of female talents include:
🧬 Assia Kasdi, Founder and CEO at Milvus Advanced, creating substitutes for platinum-group metals at the nanoscale, enabling high-performance catalysis.
🧱 Marta Sjögren, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Paebbl, turning captured CO₂ into carbon-storing materials that can be used in concrete and construction.
🔬 Katelijne Bekers, CEO and Co-Founder at MicroHarvest, using microorganisms, nature’s most efficient protein factories, to scale tasty, healthy, sustainable protein.
🏭 Léa Dardenne, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Epyr, turning renewable power into high-temperature heat with thermal energy storage.
💸 Beau-Anne Chilla, Partner at FORWARD.one, investing in the people building the automation, quantum, and energy infrastructure Europe needs in the next decade.
🎥 Why we’re Backing European Hard Tech for Climate
Factories. Energy. Infrastructure. Resilience.
Europe needs to build again. And at scale.
HackSummit on April 22–23 brings together Europe’s decision-makers and change-makers who are serious about industrial renewal.
Through curated conversations, high-impact networking, and focused deal-making, we’re creating the room where Europe’s next wave of industrial capacity gets unlocked.
If you’re building, investing, or shaping policy for Europe’s future, here’s why you belong in the room too.
We look forward to seeing you in Lausanne, Switzerland next month.
Laura at Hack
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