The Female Founders Circle brings together women who want to start a company and women who already have. Over six gatherings, you share what you know, learn from each other and build a network that lasts.
An initiative of IHK Berlin, powered by JUNI.
Your time is your most valuable resource, so we’ve made sure every minute of it counts. The Female Founders Circle brings together two small, hand-picked groups of women and pairs you with experts you wouldn’t usually get an hour with: partners from leading VCs, successful founders and seasoned industry experts. No big stage, no pitch-fest. Just honest conversations over a shared table, with people who can move your idea or company forward.
The circle: Every participant is selected through an application and a personal intake call and matched by stage, so the woman sitting next to you is facing the same questions you are and brings answers you haven’t heard yet.
The experts: Each session opens with someone who has been there: VCs who make the investment decisions, founders who’ve built and scaled companies, and industry experts who know how things really work.
The network: Weeks of sharing, swapping notes and breaking bread together build a kind of trust that one-off events never will. Add access to IHK Berlin, the JUNI community and Berlin’s wider ecosystem, and you leave with people who open doors long after the program ends.
Your place in the circle.
Six gatherings built around your stage, your questions and your time. You’ll sit with a hand-picked group of women taking science and technology from the lab to the market, and learn from experts who have walked that path. There are two groups, matched by stage, so every hour you spend here goes into the questions you’re facing right now.
Group A:
Aspiring founders. You’re a scientist, researcher or engineer with an idea that could leave the lab. Or you simply know you want to build something of your own. You haven’t founded yet. In the circle you’ll find out whether your idea is worth founding and what it takes to lead it. You’ll also meet the people who can help you take the first step.
Group B:
Founders. You’ve incorporated your company and you’re building something rooted in science or technology. Now it’s about traction, fundraising and a strong team. In the circle you’ll work on exactly that, with founders at your stage and investors who make the funding decisions.
We meet in person, six times, at the JUNI Mitte office in Berlin. Three gatherings bring both groups together. At the other three, each group works on its own stage in parallel, and we come together at the start and the end.
Every gathering follows the same four steps:
A curated speaker shares what really works, including the parts that usually stay off stage.
Your challenges, your wins, your questions. Everyone brings something to the table.
Together we turn the conversation into learnings and ideas you can actually use.
A blueprint, a template or an igniter for your next step. Something concrete, every single time.
IHK Berlin represents the interests of Berlin’s businesses and supports people who want to start one, from first idea to growing company. With the Female Founders Circle, IHK Berlin invests in the women shaping the city’s economy.
JUNI is Berlin-Brandenburg’s home for talents, future founders and startups. The Female Founders Circle is powered by JUNI and hosted in our office in Berlin Mitte.
Ready to join?
Every edition brings a new group of women together. See which one is open right now and find all the details on its page.
