The competition winners will be announced at the Regional Finals in March 2022.

12 inspiring female founders have been named as this year’s AccelerateHER awards finalists in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs.

The influential Scottish women have been shortlisted for their aspirational work in fields of Science and MedTech; FinTech, Data Science and Cybersecurity; CleanTech, Climate and Net Zero and Disruptive Innovation.

Now in their seventh year, this is the first time the previously Scotland-only event has extended UK-wide.

Last year’s four AccelerateHER awards finalists include Kate Cameron from Cytochroma, Rebecca Goss from XGenix, Sarah Wernér of Husmus and ZOEX Power’s Aslihan Penley.

There are twelve finalists across four categories across Scotland in 2022. The three finalists in the Science and MedTech category are:

• Karen Gardiner of Purple Orchid Health, a reproductive health company supporting women with urology and gynaecology conditions
• Jodie Sinclair of Theo Health, a HealthTech looking to revolutionise how we train and recover from injury
• Ishani Malhotra of Carcinotech, which manufactures 3D-printed living tumours using patient-derived cancer stem cells.

Finalists from the FinTech, Data Science and Cybersecurity category are:

• Anne Widdop of The VR Hive, which uses AI to deliver a reactive, adaptive learning environment including a virtual classroom assistant.
• Charmaine Lo of Actelligent (Scotland) Company, a FinTech platform to help investors act intelligently in every stage of the investment process.
• Lynne Darcey Quigley of Know-it Global, which streamlines the credit control process so businesses can credit check and monitor, chase for payment, and collect overdue unpaid invoices all from one place.

The category finalists in the CleanTech, Climate and Net Zero category are:

• Katherine Gunderson of Grand Bequest, a property technology company using data analytics, conservation, and sustainability to promote the global redevelopment of vacant buildings.
• Katie McKinney of ThermaFY Group, a specialist software company, that analyses temperature data to solve real world problems.
• Xiaoyan Ma of Danu Robotics LTD, a CleanTech startup that is developing advanced and sustainable technological solutions for the benefit of the environment.

And lastly, finalists from the Disruptive Innovation category are:

• Danae Shell of Valla, a DIY law platform that helps people resolve employment issues themselves.
• Mehrnaz Campbell of Cheemia Limited, an independent market access and remote sales firm that provides a cloud based training platform for pharmaceutical companies.
• Janis Roddie of Everyday People, which uses disruptive innovation to enable the live events industry to embrace and monetise the digital space.

Commenting on the finalists, AccelerateHER COO, Elizabeth Pirrie said: “We’re delighted to be announcing an incredibly strong shortlist and want to congratulate all of our 2022 finalists who are among the most innovative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs operating in the country.

“The driver behind the AccelerateHER UK awards is to showcase dynamic female founded businesses with major global growth potential. It will be so exciting to celebrate the success of such exceptional talent with our AccelerateHER network when we announce our winners in March.”

AccelerateHER, which is running alongside Barclays Eagle Labs, also has support from business consulting firm CGI, which has helped around 700 female founders gain access to expert help to prepare for investment and growth.

Katherine Morgan, Head of High Growth and Entrepreneurs at Barclays, added: “The standard of entries for this year’s awards has been hugely impressive and is exciting to see the number of female-founded businesses innovating in STEM sectors driving change in the UK.

“We commend all of this year’s entrants for their dynamic approach to entrepreneurship and wish all the finalists the best of luck for the finals in March.”

This article was first published by DIGIT.