Key Points
- Event Announcement: Monaco will host “HERS Monaco,” a new summit dedicated specifically to female tech entrepreneurs, on Friday, 23rd October 2026.
- Origin and Milestones: The event marks the 10th edition of the K2MATCH Investor Lounge and has expanded into a dedicated “Female Tech Founders Summit”.
- Core Problem: The summit seeks to address severe venture capital disparity, highlighting that all-female founding teams in Europe secured only 1.2% of venture capital funding last year.
- Joint Venture Leadership: The summit is organized as a joint venture between Karen Aliprendi (KA Partner), Chika Yamamoto (Crossbie), and the K2MATCH core team comprising Badr Moudden, Freya Choi, and Alexandros Dohn.
- Event Architecture: The one-day itinerary includes morning panel sessions (“The Billion Spot” and “Closing the Funding Gap”), afternoon startup pitches before a live jury, and an evening gala dinner featuring the Female Founders Award.
- Extended Schedule: HERS Monaco forms part of a three-day schedule running from 21st to 23rd October, including a pre-networking session and the main K2MATCH Investor Lounge.
- Long-Term Vision: Organisers aim to launch the year-round “HERS Monaco Circle” network and eventually establish “HERS Monaco Capital” to directly fund female-led startups.
Monaco (Monaco Weekly News) October 14, 2026 – Monaco will play host to “HERS Monaco,” a novel female-focused tech summit on Friday, 23rd October 2026, aimed at directly tackling the entrenched funding shortfall facing women entrepreneurs across Europe. As reported by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, the one-day gathering—officially titled the Female Tech Founders Summit—emerged from the established K2MATCH Investor Lounge to confront statistical disparities showing that all-female founding teams received just 1.2% of European venture capital allocation in the preceding year.
As detailed by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, the initiative was created by Badr Moudden and Alexandros Dohn as part of the K2MATCH Investor Lounge platform, which routinely connects curated startups with venture capital entities, family offices, and high-net-worth investors. For its milestone tenth edition, the K2MATCH organisers opted to pivot their entire main programme exclusively toward supporting female founders.
As reported by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, event organisers stressed that the overarching venture ecosystem no longer suffers from a lack of visible female role models. Organisers stated that “The challenge is no longer inspiration. It is access to capital, to networks, to markets, to decision-making circles”.
This diagnostic assessment is mirrored across recent quantitative industry research. As documented by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, data released by PitchBook in December revealed that the portion of European venture funding directed to all-female start-up teams dropped in 2025 to its lowest statistical level in nearly ten years. Furthermore, figures cited by HERS Monaco indicate that globally, all-female founding ventures receive approximately 2% of capital—equating to merely one or two dollars for every hundred dollars invested.
What initially began as a secondary satellite offering alongside the Investor Lounge has evolved into a structured joint venture. As noted by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, the entity brings together Karen Aliprendi of KA Partner, Chika Yamamoto representing Crossbie, and the core K2MATCH executive team consisting of Badr Moudden, Freya Choi, and Alexandros Dohn.
The summit schedule on 23rd October starts with two venture capital panel discussions in the morning. As reported by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, the initial session, titled “The Billion Spot,” examines why European female tech entrepreneurs remain under-capitalised. The subsequent panel, titled “Closing the Funding Gap,” will explore both internal operational hurdles and external systemic barriers confronting women founders.
As outlined by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, the speaking roster features prominent international venture figures and investors, including:
- Georgia Pont Garcia of Alkimia Capital, a private capital firm operating across Monaco and Andorra;
- Florence Bavanandan, Chief Operating Officer of Launch Africa Ventures and General Partner of the Botswana Tech Fund;
- Katrina Victoria Gumaya, angel investor and founder and chairman of KVG Ventures;
- Pascale Caron, founder and CEO of Yunova Consulting and co-author of EntrepreneurIA;
- Ksenia Edsall, early-stage investor and former manager at Deloitte UK;
- Maissa Ballout Shamshoum, CEO of Hasoub and investor with the Falcon Innovation Fund.
Following the morning panel sessions, the afternoon agenda will feature a shortlisted selection of female-led tech startups. As reported by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, each business leader will receive five minutes to pitch their venture, which will immediately be followed by a live question-and-answer session with an expert jury. The day’s events will conclude with an evening gala dinner, where the top three pitching enterprises will be presented with the Female Founders Award.
The one-day summit represents the climax of a multi-day engagement in the Principality. As detailed by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, activities commence on 21st October with an informal pre-networking evening, followed on 22nd October by the K2MATCH Investor Lounge, which provides curated matchmaking intended to translate initial founder contacts into firm financial commitments.
Looking beyond the immediate event, the event leadership outlined prospective expansion plans. As reported by Cassandra Tanti of Monaco Life, organisers intend to establish the “HERS Monaco Circle” as an active year-round operational network. Furthermore, over the medium term, leadership intends to establish “HERS Monaco Capital,” a dedicated investment vehicle designed to ensure introductions made during the summit turn into direct equity funding for female-led tech companies.
What Is the Background of the Venture Capital Disparity Facing Female Founders?
The inauguration of HERS Monaco arrives against a background of persistent gender disparities within European and global venture capital funding. Over the past decade, despite significant policy initiatives, accelerator programs, and public advocacy focused on expanding diversity in technology ecosystems, structural deployment of capital toward female tech entrepreneurs has remained stagnant.
Industry benchmarking reports consistently indicate that while gender representation at the entry and early-stage startup ideation levels has grown, the flow of institutional capital tapers sharply at the seed, Series A, and growth stages. According to PitchBook research, macroeconomic headwinds, heightened investor risk aversion, and contraction in total venture deployment during recent market cycles disproportionately reduced allocations to non-traditional founding teams. This dynamic resulted in all-female founding teams receiving just 1.2% of European venture capital in 2025.
The K2MATCH platform, created by Badr Moudden and Alexandros Dohn, was designed to leverage Monaco’s concentrated private wealth and family office density to connect early-stage B2B and consumer tech ventures directly with capital decision-makers. By devoting its tenth iteration to female-led ventures, the organisation seeks to bridge the institutional gap between high-net-worth investors and under-represented founders through structured pitching and dedicated network integration.
How Will This Development Affect European Female Founders and the Venture Capital Market?
The establishment of HERS Monaco and its associated infrastructure (including the HERS Monaco Circle and the proposed HERS Monaco Capital investment vehicle) holds direct implications for early-stage female technology entrepreneurs, venture capital partners, and private wealth networks across Europe.
For female founders, the summit offers a direct, curated channel to present business models directly to family offices, business angels, and venture capital partners in Monaco. By bypassing traditional institutional gatekeepers, participating startups can secure seed and early-stage equity financing that might otherwise be inaccessible through standard venture channels. Furthermore, the establishment of the year-round HERS Monaco Circle provides sustained mentorship, governance support, and continuous market introductions rather than isolated, transactional pitch experiences.
For investors and family offices in the Principality, the dedicated focus on female-led ventures addresses an overlooked segment of high-growth technology companies. Academic and market research consistently shows that diverse founding teams often deliver stronger capital efficiency and valuation performance; thus, systematic access to pre-screened female-led ventures allows capital providers to diversify their portfolios while seizing under-priced market opportunities.
Finally, if HERS Monaco successfully launches HERS Monaco Capital as a functional fund, it could establish a recurring financial model for private-wealth-backed gender-lens investing in Europe, demonstrating how regional wealth hubs can actively narrow structural financing gaps in the broader tech ecosystem.
