Women's Day 2022: Giving Visibility to Professional Women Leading The Tech Startup Ecosystem!

Our inspirational stories on International Women’s Day

For International Women’s Day, we are proud to share the stories of women entrepreneurs and advocates who have chosen to be part of Viceversa’s community. 

We gave voice to role models, passionate and courageous, asking them to tell the success factors behind the growth of their businesses.

Sara Menato is a multi-talented, art historian with a bachelor’s degree in Piano and background in R&D, she is also the co-founder and CMO of Sommelier wine box. Eagerness, the right team and a leadership able to inspire are the key factors to develop a business. Today, it has to become normal having women at the head of tech startups, as well as political parties, departments, orchestras… In order to achieve the goal, above all I believe we need to invite them as speakers and fund them.

Federica Caccia, head of growth at Macai, mainly focused on developing the brand strategy. She believes in the importance of dialogue as key to grow the business “This is the key, to build a team with cross-functional skills. How to increase the presence of women in the startup world? Creating awareness and opportunity of dialogue about this topic”.

Silvia Bosio, founder of Paco Pet Shop: “expertise and empathy are important elements to start a successful business. Thanks to my tenacity, the proactive attitude, and also the collaboration with Viceversa, I was able to invest more easily to boost the sales of my e-commerce”.

The involvement of all stakeholders is one of the important factors, Chiara Marconi tells as a founder of Chitè, to enhance the potential of digital women entrepreneurs and inspiring others: “We need transparency, success and failure stories, we need analytical management training, but above all we need Investors, VCs and businesses with an open-mindset, so that they are ready to see a change in the interlocutor on the other side of the table: from a man over 40 to a woman under 30”.

Iris Terzitta is digital marketing manager in Viceversa. A growth startup can be achieved first of all by “listening, talking and developing an inclusive leadership style”. The way to bring out the potential’s women is to “build connections, promoting new reference models and always finding the courage to share original ideas”.

Viceversa and trends about female entrepreneurship

Data shows several key points.

• In Italy, 12.9% are startups where “the majority of ownership and administrative positions are held by women” (Ministry of Economic Development, 2021).
• More in depth, 86% of women are looking for funding while 40% find it difficult to obtain it. Networking, empowerment and training remain among the most relevant matters to make a difference in the market (Cariplo Factory, 2021).
• Overall, in Europe, just 15% of startups are founded or co-founded by women (EIT Digital Accelerator, 2022).

In 2022, new funding, monitoring and mentoring programs are planned to enhance entrepreneurial projects and skills. On the other hand we can also find interesting stories of women growing their businesses. Viceversa offers visibility to women to tell their stories. We also set alternative ways to develop scaleups and high-potential digital companies, using our growth platform and the Revenue-based Financing model.

“Viceversa is the first, and actually the only, entity to have supported Sommelier Wine Box, with the aim to consolidate the growth in Italy and to expand the brand abroad”. reports Sara, CMO at Sommelier Wine Box.

“Thanks to Viceversa we have been able to quickly expand our marketing campaigns and increase the returns in terms of performance and awareness”, reports Federica, head of growth at Macai