Of all company founders in Switzerland, only about 20% are female - and the percentage for science and technology-based start-ups is even lower. We want to show aspiring female founders that there are many inspiring female role models. Are you thinking about starting your own business and would you like to meet inspiring female founders? Then visit our free Female Founder event!

In this Startup Stories Special we will hear from four successful female founders, their entrepreneurial journeys and experiences in the startup ecosystem. Coming from various industries, we are excited to welcome Claudia Bolliger-Winkler from Lionstep, Xiao Jean Chen from Venturepole, Belén Bolliger from OiOiOi Baby, and Isabelle Siegrist from Sandborn. The event will give you the chance to hear their stories, but furthermore get into a personal exchange during our fireside chats.

 >> Register here << 

Claudia Bolliger-Winkler, Co-Founder and CEO of Lionstep

Claudia is the founder and CEO of the recruiting platform Lionstep. Before founding Lionstep in 2016, she worked in strategy consulting and completed her Master’s degree in Management and Economics at the University of Zurich. Lionstep helps companies identify, seek and hire new people in a unique combination of artificial intelligence and human interaction. Always committed to create the best candidate- and client-experience, the Lionstep experts are responsible for thousands of new employee-employer relationships. The company has quickly gained a foothold in the European market and employs more than 80 people. Over 900 Companies use the platform on a daily basis.

Xiao Jean Chen, Founder and CEO of Venturepole

As an award-winning business and technology hybrid, Xiao Jean (XJ) Chen builds smart tools to make venture capital faster, better and equitable. Their mission is to end gender injustice in venture capital. They are the winner of the FemBizSwiss Award, ambassador of Google Women Techmakers, juror of the Digital Entrepreneurship Competition at the University of Zurich, mentor at Startupbootcamp, researcher in management, programmer at 13 hackathons, angel investor, and ex-consultant in Hong Kong. XJ founded VenturePole in Switzerland, an AI-powered venture investment platform that is armed with smart tools, including Investment Risk Rating, Valuation Calculator, Company Strength & Weakness Analysis, as well as automated due diligence. VenturePole builds AI-powered tools that help founders get investment-ready and investors make higher returns. Their tools are unbiased and factor in a diversity surplus to level the playing field for female founders.

Belén Bolliger, Co-Founder of OiOiOi Baby

Belén Bolliger is Co-Founder of OiOiOi, a Swiss-based rental service for children’s clothing, that enables parents to effortlessly subscribe for baby clothes and swap them for the next size whenever needed. Launched in 2020 with the vision to make sustainability easily accessible through an excellent rental model, OiOiOi is now transforming the way parents manage their children’s wardrobe.

Isabelle Siegrist, Founder and CEO of Sandborn

Isabelle Siegrist has been helping to build up companies across Switzerland since 2014, first for 2 years at Startups.ch as CIO and then with her own company builder Sandborn. She supports entrepreneurs and corporates from various industries in scaling (from idea validation, product/service development, market entry to growth financing), builds companies of her own and invests in Startups. Isabelle was recognized as one of the TOP 100 Businesswomen in Switzerland 2018, 2019 and 2020 and is a Forbes 30 under 30 Alumna (2019), studied Business Innovation at HSG and majored in Social Entrepreneurship at ESCP Europe. Moreover, she is a coach at Innosuisse and regularly teaches at various colleges and universities on entrepreneurship topics.

Places are very limited. Please register for the event free of charge via the online form - and cancel your registration if you are unable to attend. Your place will be given to someone on the waiting list.

>> Register here <<