Founderland

The Q4 2026 Forward Grant is now open. Founderland will award a €10,000 equity-free grant to a woman of colour founder building at the early stage across Europe or the UK. You can apply whether you are pre-revenue, pre-incorporation, validating a prototype, or already building momentum. What matters is the venture, the problem you are solving, and what this funding could unlock. Apply now: https://lnkd.in/d3MxDKyD #Founderland #ForwardGrant #WomenOfColour #WomenFounders #StartupFunding #EuropeanStartups

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱? For Katty Hsu, the answer was eventually: you build something about it. Katty’s work has taken her deep into the data behind inequality in entrepreneurship, from Europe to the Global Majority. Again and again, she saw the same problem: ambitious founders weren’t lacking ideas or ability. They were being held back by unequal access to capital, expertise and networks. Now, as co-founder of VUKARA, she’s working to change that. In our latest profile, Katty shares the experiences that shaped her, why she moved from researching the problem to building a solution, and her vision for a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem. Read her story: https://lnkd.in/e3ZcPbA4

“𝙉𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮.” For years, Manna Teji saw the detours in her career as things she would eventually need to explain. Time away from professional life to care for her family. A marriage ending. Watching peers progress while her own career appeared to have stopped. Today, she sees those years differently. Manna is the founder of Masuar Inmobiliario, a boutique real estate agency in southeastern Spain, built around something she knows the value of firsthand: trust. As a South Asian woman building in a male-dominated industry, Manna has faced her share of doubt. Her response? “Every time someone questions whether I am real, I choose to show up more.” Her story is a powerful reminder that there is no single path to becoming a founder, and that sometimes the experiences that look like interruptions are actually preparation. 💛 Meet Manna and read her Founderland story: https://lnkd.in/eHXFMJeV #Founderland #FounderStories #WomenEntrepreneurs #Entrepreneurship

Imagine an industry worth billions still running through Instagram DMs and spreadsheets. Founderland member Netochukwu “Neto” Onuoha saw that reality firsthand as both a hairstylist and a client. 💇🏾♀️ The talent was there. The demand was there. But the infrastructure wasn't. That's why she built KB Matrix, a beauty-tech platform helping Afro hairstylists manage bookings, payments, client relationships, and business growth, while making it easier for clients to find trusted professionals. "I realized this was not a talent problem. It was an infrastructure problem." In our latest founder profile, Neto shares how lived experience inspired her to build the infrastructure behind an industry with enormous cultural and economic impact. 🔗 Read her full story: https://lnkd.in/eEqtc7k4

We’re proud to announce Prudence Persson, founder & CEO of Manje Health, as the Q2 2026 Founderland Forward Grant recipient. In 2010, Prudence’s mother was diagnosed with a tumour in Zambia. Living in Sweden, Prudence began sending money home to help cover her medical bills, never quite knowing if it would arrive in time or reach the clinic before care was needed. Her mother survived, and Prudence spent the next 15 years seeing the same problem play out across diaspora families. So she built Manje Health. Manje enables people in the diaspora to pay hospitals, pharmacies, diagnostic labs and insurers in Africa directly, connecting cross-border payments to the care they are intended to fund. Prudence has already built significant momentum: a network of 700+ healthcare providers, diaspora partnerships giving Manje access to thousands of potential users, live transactions between Sweden and Ghana, and, earlier this year, recognition as the Spring 2026 winner of Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV. What stood out to our judges was not only the scale and urgency of the problem Prudence is solving, but how much she has already done to de-risk the solution: the product, provider network, distribution partnerships and early transactions are already there. The Forward Grant will help Manje turn that foundation into greater transaction volume and bring direct healthcare payments to more diaspora families. Congratulations, Prudence. We’re proud to back what you’re building. 💙 Read more about Prudence, Manje Health and why she was selected as our Q2 recipient on Founderland. https://lnkd.in/g3xVY3kt #founderland #womenfounders

Meet the Q2 2026 Forward Grant judges Behind every Forward Grant is a panel of judges who bring different perspectives, experiences and expertise to the table. This quarter, the top 20 applications are being evaluated by: • Loubna Messaoudi, founder and CEO of BIWOC* Rising, whose work focuses on intersectional justice, financial empowerment and building more equitable workplaces. • Lynae Brayboy, MD, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Ovom Care, physician-scientist, and leader at the intersection of reproductive medicine and AI. • Leonie Moos, Partner at ignore gravity and leader of Grace - Accelerate Female Entrepreneurship, one of Europe's leading startup hubs supporting women entrepreneurs and diverse founding teams. Thank you, Loubna, Lynae and Leonie, for generously sharing your time and expertise with our community. To everyone who applied: thank you for trusting us with your journey. We know how much work goes into every application. We'll be announcing the finalists during the week of August 10. Good luck to everyone in the running. 💜

What if the opportunity you're waiting for was yours to create? Founderland member favour malagu stopped waiting. After moving from Nigeria to Romania, she saw how difficult it was for founders and creatives to access visibility, structure, and global opportunities. Rather than accepting those barriers, she built her own. ✨ Today, she's building Hooglam, a fashion brand celebrating African creativity through a global lens, and #ScalitOS, a platform helping small businesses simplify marketing and growth. "Waiting for opportunities was not enough. I had to start creating them myself." In our latest founder profile, Favour shares how resilience, entrepreneurship, and a willingness to start before feeling ready shaped her journey across fashion and technology. 🔗 Read her full story: https://lnkd.in/eR69sNTV

Every recipient started in exactly the same place. An application. Ruth applied. ✔️ She was selected. Her business received €10,000 in equity-free funding. Tonight we'll close applications for the next Founderland Forward Grant. If you've been waiting until "later," this is your reminder that later is today. Applications close at 11:59 PM CEST. If this isn't for you, there's still time to help someone else by sharing this post. https://lnkd.in/eNxKicu7

What could you do with €10,000? Hire your first contractor? Build the product you've been putting off? Pay yourself some salary? Buy inventory? Invest in marketing? Attend the conference that could change your trajectory? Every founder has a different answer. 💡 If you're a woman of colour building a business in Europe or the UK, tell us yours in your Founderland Forward Grant application. We're awarding €10,000 in equity-free funding to help a founder move her business forward. Applications close tomorrow (July 24) at 11:59 PM CEST. If someone came to mind while reading this, please share this post with them. The right opportunity only matters if the right person sees it in time. https://lnkd.in/eNxKicu7