UniCredit Start Lab, 20Fund and Bi-Rex: a system that rewards sustainability and female entrepreneurship

“There are many startups founded by women in Italy, it’s not a problem to find any! – says Serra Elizabeth Falk, founder of 20Fund. “As in the rest of the world, even in the US, what is lacking is not initiative or skills, women have a great untapped potential. What’s missing is support for their projects.” Serra Elizabeth Falk is the founder of 20Fund together with Lisa Tortolani and Pietro Bonanni, a fund created to create impact in two areas underestimated by investments (women and climate change) and which has long collaborated with UniCredit Start Lab to identify and support female-led startups, characterized by a strong vocation for sustainability. “We founded 20Fund in response to the 2020 pandemic that impacted everyone in the world, but especially women,” says the investor. Fortunately, after the storm comes the rainbow, with our fund we would like to be this, today there is not enough support for women’s participation in the economy and entrepreneurship. Our mission is to help them improve their lives, thrive, and reach their full potential for themselves and their communities. We already have 5 investments in Italy, and another 4 projects are in the due diligence phase, we have several in the pipeline”. Among the first investments is Bi-rex, a university spin-off and benefit company, founded by Greta Colombo Dugoni and Monica Ferro, two chemists who have seen great potential in the waste of the agri-food industry for the production of cellulose. Bi-Rex meets 20Fund in 2022, thanks to the dedicated support of UniCredit Start Lab, UniCredit’s business platform which, among other initiatives to support growth, helps selected startups to get in touch with corporates and investors on the national and international scene. “At Bi-rex, we were struck first and foremost by meeting two brilliant female scientists. – adds Pietro Bonanni, co-founder of 20Fund. “Then we fell in love with their motivation in wanting to make ‘paper without trees’, it’s really something with a great impact and capable of changing the market, what is needed right now. Bi-rex was the kick-off of our investments, we are still excited about it and believe it will be one of the stars of our portfolio.” “The road has not been easy in recent years – say Greta Colombo Dugoni and Monica Ferro – UniCredit Start Lab introduced us to 20Fund at a time of bewilderment in our company and the support of these two players has given us a great hand to believe again in ourselves as entrepreneurs and in the strength of our project”.

The context: are female founders on the rise in Italy?

According to the data, yes. According to Unioncamere, which provides periodic reports on gender equality, at the end of September 2022 there were about 1 million 342 thousand women-owned businesses, representing 22.18% of Italian entrepreneurship, 6 thousand less than the previous year. But there were 2,000 innovative female startups, 572 more than in the same period of 2019. [infografica id=”128216″ class=”attachment-full infoImg infoImg-contain-width infoImg-contain-width-transform hide” caption=”Francesca Perrone, Head of ESG & Start Lab Italy, UniCredit”] The UniCredit Start Lab observatory also confirms this happy trend. Francesca Perrone, Head of ESG & Start Lab Italy at UniCredit underlined the attention to the issue and the increasingly structured support that the platform offers to companies led by female founders: “With UniCredit Start Lab, we are strongly committed to supporting female tech entrepreneurship. In the last three years, we have launched 13 initiatives entirely dedicated to innovative companies led by women, involving more than 180 female entrepreneurs, with the aim of providing tools and content for their managerial development and connection with international VC funds. Women’s participation in the economy and entrepreneurship is a fundamental component of innovation and, through our initiatives, we want to foster the development of an increasingly open, diverse and inclusive ecosystem” The numbers, in fact, show that it is As female founders’ participation in the call has increased over the years, women-led start-ups accounted for 22% of the total 2023 applications, up from 17% in 2022, and 50% among those selected to access Start Lab. We remind you that the 2024 call is still open until April 17, to apply for your startup consult the following link. This is good news, considering that the 2023 edition of the Gender Gap Report tells us that we are still in 79th place in the world ranking of 146 countries; It even ranks 104th in terms of participation in the economy. A figure that clashes with the fact that Italy (despite the crises) is one of the main economic and industrial powers in the world. Systemic collaborations are essential to have a significant impact on the gender gap. Cases such as that of Bi-rex, which met 20Fund thanks to the selection for the UniCredit Start Lab program, must multiply and are multiplying. This will be discussed soon at the first ‘Female Founders Summit’ that the two companies are organizing to bring together 30 startups founded by women and provide them with targeted support in the development of their solutions and technologies. “The support that a startup may need is of various kinds. 20Fund provides early-stage startups with financial support, of course, but also entrepreneurial support, which can vary according to needs: you may need assistance with sales or to enter the US market, you may need business plan strategy or additional fundraising” – explains Serra Elizabeth Falk. “We choose a startup first and foremost for the founders. We know that their original idea may not be the right one for the market and the future, but things can change many times. That is why we are looking for strong, courageous, intelligent, brilliant women who face challenges and know how to adapt. Then we look at the product or service, if it is something of value for the community, for the Italian market and for the world.”

Bi-rex: the paper without trees

In the new era of the circular economy, still in its infancy, waste is the new gold, but new chemistry, processes and industrial know-how are needed to transform it into a new resource. Bi-rex, starting from waste food material from citrus fruits, lavender, coffee, beer, shrimp shells, through a sustainable process obtains cellulose and chitin. Its target market is potentially huge.

“UniCredit came at the right time, its support program is advanced, but we were ready. It has allowed us to understand how to carry out and perhaps modify our project to get to market sooner, how to relate to other companies and also to investors,” says Greta Colombo Dugoni. “It is important to be able to choose the investor, we were able to do so also thanks to the expert guidance of the Start Lab team and so we met 20Fund who shares our vision on sustainability and believes in us as people, this gives us great strength. – adds Monica Ferro. Currently, the startup is beginning to industrialize its processes, which requires R&D laboratories and production plants. “However, our processes are quite simple, we do not have machinery created ad hoc, even in the design phase of industrial processes we have tried to exploit the existing, using plants and machinery – often from the agricultural sector – that can be adapted in view of a rapid scaleup,” continue the two founders. Women, young people, scientists: the intersectional mix did not help Bi-rex. “The scientific world is very male, as is the business world that we frequent today. We often have to prove something more, as women, but this does not stop us, on the contrary, we are witnesses to the fact that the support of partners such as UniCredit Start Lab and 20Fund can play a fundamental role in bringing out many other successful female entrepreneurs”.

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