Founderland Calls on Europe’s Startup Ecosystem to Wake Up, Support Women of Color

When Deborah Choi and Alina Bassi initially conceived of Berlin-based nonprofit Founderland, they intended it to be a one-day event for women of color entrepreneurs like themselves, with a stretch goal of 80 attendees. But the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in that plan. Instead, it grew into a full-fledged non-profit organization, which they co-founded with fellow entrepreneur Stephanie von Behr to provide support to women of color founders in Europe. It now has 400 members across 25 European countries, representing verticals from B2B to Web3.

February 10, 2023

Discrimination, prejudice, funding, and diversity washing: Founderland looks at challenges faced by women of colour founders

In 2020, major venture capitalists promised to do better on diversity. Few years later, there are few signs of progress. Amidst a plethora of DEI initiatives, the proportion of funding for women-only teams has only decreased in Europe. The State of European Tech shows a drop from 3 per cent to 1 per cent since 2018.

January 27, 2023

The R/GA Make/Good Program Helps Close the Racial Wealth Gap

In 2017, R/GA didn’t have a corporate social responsibility program. The agency’s new art director, Bayyina Black, wanted to change that. A town hall meeting helped inspire her. As Black listened to founder Bob Greenberg talking about the downturn in the economy at the time, she thought back on a Giving Trip she took with Toms Shoes. She had an idea which led to a business proposition that eventually grew into R/GA’s Make / Good for Businesses, a pro bono program that supports entrepreneurs of color.

September 20, 2022

5 Questions with the Co-Founders of Founderland

Founderland aims to level the playing field for all entrepreneurs, by addressing the most underrepresented: women of color. Less than 0.5% of venture capital in Europe has gone to women of color founders, and we exist to increase the number of funded and resourced businesses run by diverse leadership. We believe doing so creates new representations of entrepreneurship for the next generation of founders.

April 01, 2022

Female Business Angels Podcast

Stephanie von Behr, Deborah Choi and Alina Bassi from the Founderland are on a mission to level up the playing field for women founders of color by providing education, network and resources to empower their success and create more role models for the future generations.

March 14, 2022

40+ Black and mixed-race female founders in Europe

The conversation around ethnic diversity in European tech often centres on entrepreneurs in the UK. But there are many Black and mixed-race founders, particularly women, in other parts of Europe.

February 11, 2022

Berlin-based Founderland selected to receive funding through Google.org’s Impact Challenge for Women and Girls

Berlin-based Founderland has just been named one of 34 selected organizations to receive funds from the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. The $25 million philanthropy challenge was launched in March with a challenge to the global nonprofit community to submit their boldest and most innovative ideas to create a more equitable economic reality for women and girls.

November 8, 2021

Let’s empower women and girls to reach their full economic potential and thrive

The Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls commits $25 million to fund organizations creating pathways to prosperity for women and girls. This is an open call for applications, and selected charitable initiatives will receive up to $2 million, as well as opportunities for mentorship and additional support from Google.

2021