The startup ecosystem has been making strides toward greater gender diversity and inclusion. Poland, in particular, has seen a surge in Polish women in tech in recent years, with many innovative female-led companies and startups emerging in the industry.
The Polish startup ecosystem has been experiencing a significant boom over the past couple of years, including the rise of unicorns. According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2021, Polish females placed 21st globally and 1st in the CEE region. Yet, there is still a significant imbalance, as only about a fourth of Polish startups was established by women, a report by InnovationsLab shows.
According to Dealroom, Poland had approximately 123 female-founded startups in 2022, with the first emerging in 2012. Highlighting the rising importance and trend, The Recursive begins to map the Polish women in tech and the disruptive innovations they bring to the region.
This article presents only the beginning of mapping out Polish women in tech. Please, feel free to contact us with updates or names we should add to the list: [email protected]
+++ Curious to learn why Vienna is a great destination for female founders and women in tech? Click on the link above to explore.
50+ Polish women in tech to keep an eye on
Healthcare
Ada Andruszkiewicz - Talkie.ai
Ada Andruszkiewicz graduated with a degree in International Economics. Having lived in Europe, the US, and Asia, she has worked in the software world for over 10 years, from working with the Jordanian government on digitizing public services to leading the Development Team of Rightmove.co.uk. In 2020, she co-founded an AI-powered voice bot Talkie.ai to support medical contact centers and raised €2.5M seed round in 2022.
Joanna Fedorowicz - OvuFriend
With strong leadership experience of over 10 years in management, Joanna Fedorowicz holds an MBA from San Francisco State University. Joanna is the CEO and co-founder of startup OvuFriend, a personalized, data & science-driven platform helping women understand their intimate health since 2012. The startup is supported by Google for Startups and BlackBox.vc accelerator based in Silicon Valley.
Eva Galant - Hashiona
Throughout a 10+ year career in the tech and startup sector, Eva Galant co-founded three companies and moved to London in 2014. She is the founder and CEO of Hashiona, an app stabilizing the immune system designed by clinicians. Eva also worked as a Global Expansion Manager at WeWork in Australia or as a European Tech Talent & Partnership Leader at InMotion, a startup powered by Jaguar Land Rover.
Kasia Gryzlo - HearMe
Since 2020, Kasia Gryzlo has been the co-founder and CEO of online psychological support applications for employees, HearMe and Emplomind. In late 2022, Kasia raised €450K seed round for HearMe. Throughout her career, she worked as a copywriter, marketer, and founder of a farming startup ZAJKA.
Honorata Hafke-Dys - StethoMe
With a Ph.D. in biophysics, Honorata Hafke-Dys is a scientific project leader with over 15 years of experience and an author of more than 30 scientific publications. She co-founded a telemedicine system detecting abnormal sounds in the respiratory system to assist parents with child care at home, StethoMe, in 2015. The startup raised a $2.5M Series A round in 2020.
Urszula Herman - PelviFly
Urszula Herman graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. degree in 2016 when she founded her telemedicine startup PelviFly with a mission to help women understand how to exercise their pelvic floor muscles. In 2020, PelviFly closed a pre-seed round of over €200K. Urszula is also a founder and president of Foundation Force Feminite.
Barbara Klaudel - Radiato.ai
Barbara Klaudel is an aspiring student and entrepreneur in the space of AI in healthcare. Finishing her Master’s degree in 2024, she has co-founded a startup Radiato.ai in 2020, aiming to provide healthcare with AI-based technology improving radiological imaging and medical data annotation. Moreover, she is a lecturer of two self-prepared courses at her university and a co-founder of the research group Lion.ai.
Edyta Kocyk - SiDLY
With a degree in government administration and a Ph.D. focused on innovation and telemedicine, Edyta Kocyk co-founded her company SiDLY in 2014, offering a monitoring wristband and telemedicine platform to hospitals, institutions, and individuals. She was included in the 30 Under 30 ranking by Forbes in 2017 and secured a $580K seed round for her startup the same year.
Olga Malinkiewicz - Saule Technologies
Olga Malinkiewicz co-founded Saule Technologies in 2014 and obtained a Ph.D. at the Institute of Molecular Science from the University of Valencia in 2017. As a CTO at her high-tech company, she develops innovative solar cells based on perovskite materials (a material that has the same crystal structure as mineral calcium titanium oxide). As the first in Poland, she won the Innovators Under 35 ranking by MIT Technology Review and was included in Forbes’ Top 100 Polish Women of 2022.
Klaudia Szklarczyk-Smolana - Intelliseq
Klaudia Szklarczyk-Smolana is a corporate executive with Ph.D. in Medical Sciences focused on commercializing genetic diagnostics products. Klaudia co-founded Intelliseq, a bioinformatics company providing software solutions for genome-based medicine. As the startup’s Business Development Director and CEO (since 2022), she raised over €3.6M in 2 rounds in 2022.
Ewa Waliczek - Customy
With a computer science and mathematics degree and over 15 years of experience in software, Java, and web development, Ewa Waliczek co-founded the MedTech startup Customy in 2021, providing patient-specific solutions for craniomaxillofacial and orthopedic surgery. Her team is developing professional software for converting CT/MRI scans to 3D-printable anatomical models.
Patrycja Wizinska-Socha - Nestmedic
Patrycja Wizinska-Socha founded a telemedicine company Nestmedic in 2014 to develop cardiotocography products and services to help care for a baby’s well-being before a mother gives birth. She acted as the startup’s CEO for 5 years and as a board member for another year. Since 2022, she has been a Chief Specialist at the Innovation Department of the Ministry of Health, among other positions.
Enterprise
Katarzyna Dorsey - Yosh.AI
Katarzyna Dorsey has worked as a Vice President at Seoul International Women’s Association, Marketing & Brand Manager at the Coca-Cola Company, and Mentor at Google Launchpad for Developers in the US. Passionate about deep tech, and voice AI, she founded a startup automating communication between enterprises (in retail, banking, and insurance industries) and users with AI voice and text assistants, Yosh AI. The startup secured a $2M seed round in 2021. For her achievements, Katarzyna was named by Forbes as one of the 50 European Female Founders to follow.
Kasia Kazior - Polka
Throughout her career, Kasia Kazior worked as a Business Analyst (McKinsey), Managing Director, Chief Digital Officer (Żabka Polska), and serial founder. In 2021, Kasia founded her current company, Polka, a Zoom meeting collaboration tool that boosts meeting engagement and event flow. Additionally, Kasia has been active as an angel investor for various early-stage startups, particularly in the field of food tech, grocery, and AI/ML.
Małgorzata Ohme - Mindgram
Małgorzata Ohme is a psychologist, journalist, and co-founder of a B2B mental health and well-being startup Mindgram (2021), that helps employees understand their mental health issues and connect them with top well-being experts, premium health providers, and quality self-development content. In 2022, she raised a €7M seed round led by a Czech VC fund Credo Ventures. Since 2018, she has worked as a journalist at a Polish media company DDTVN owned by Warner Bros.
Natalia Panowicz - Codility
With a Master’s in psychology and management, Natalia Panowicz was a project coordinator and consultant before co-founding startup Codility in 2012. As a business developer, COO, and currently CEO at Codility, Natalia leads a technical hiring platform for companies to test developers’ coding skills and make evidence-based hiring decisions. The startup helps over 1,200+ businesses globally, including Microsoft, PayPal, Slack, and Tesla, and raised a $22M Series A round in 2020.
Maria Parysz - LogicAI, Elephant AI, RecoAI
Maria Parysz is an experienced innovation manager with over 15 years of experience in project management, AI technology, and user experience design. As a serial entrepreneur focused on AI-powered startups, Maria founded LogicAI in 2018 to support companies through change management and digital transformation. Big data and cloud solutions, and trainings. She also founded a privacy and ethical-oriented recommendation system and search RecoAI and an online AI course Elephant AI.
Katarzyna Zofia Pawlak - Appsvio
With a degree in engineering, Katarzyna Zofia Pawlak has experience in customer documentation, product management, and the Atlassian suite. In 2022, as a CPO, she co-founded an app development Appsvio, an Atlassian Marketplace vendor with a Silver Marketplace Partner badge. Their portfolio includes Feature Bundle for Jira Service Desk, Customer and Organization Management, HubSpot Integration, Scheduled Templates, and other apps.
Roza Szafranek - HR Hints
As a serial entrepreneur, Roza Szafranek‘s record includes two exits and companies on the stock exchange market. She founded her current startup HR Hints in 2021 to empower founders and managers to build and lead organizations with the first HR boutique operating in a subscription model, trusted by 70+ companies worldwide. Roza was included in the Forbes Poland list of 100 Women of 2022.
Paulina Wardęga - Heroify
Paulina Wardęga has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and e-commerce, prior entrepreneurship, and has lived in Spain for several years. As a CEO, she co-founded a skill-testing platform for marketing and sales positions, Heroify, in 2021. Helping hundreds of companies to make hiring more efficient and fair, the startup secured a pre-seed round of $380K in 2022.
Monika Wyszyńska - SmartyMeet
Obtaining a Master’s degree in law, Monika Wyszyńska worked in the legal sphere for over 10 years before starting her journey as a Chief Operating Officer. In 2022, she co-founded tech startup SmartyMeet, which leverages AI to enhance team video meetings, and became the COO. In early 2023, the startup raised a pre-seed funding of over €200K.
Finance
Anna Frankowska - Graceful Finance
The seasoned entrepreneur, an economist by education, an investment banker by training, and a tech consultant and advisor, Anna Frankowska, founded the FinTech startup Graceful Finance providing financial and software services for older adults in 2022 and raised a pre-seed investment of $180K later that year. Anna has been selected among the 30 Under 30 by Forbes Europe and twice by Forbes Poland. Previously, she co-founded a Saas platform for venue owners, Nightset.
Marta Krupinska - Azimo, CUR8
Marta Krupinska is a serial tech entrepreneur and a co-founder of several companies. In 2015, she co-founded an online money transfer startup Azimo which was acquired in 2022 and raised nearly $90M since its establishment. Since then, she has been a Head of Google for Startups UK, a climate-focused investor, and co-founded CUR8, dedicated to raising the bar on carbon removal. Marta was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 ranking in 2016 and Forbes’ Top 60 Female Tech Executives globally in 2018.
Hanna Milczarek - Cryptiony
Hanna Milczarek has been working in the world of Finance since 2015. She founded her first company Cryptiony, a fast and easy-to-use crypto tax solution, in 2021, providing cryptocurrency tax calculations, reporting, and portfolio management. The startup closed a pre-seed round of €500K in early 2023 with Hanna as the CMO.
Patrycja Strzelecka - CashDirector
Seasoned entrepreneur Patrycja Strzelecka co-founded as a CCO the FinTech startup CashDirector and is an alumnus of Barclays Techstars Accelerator in London and PwC Raise Accelerator. With an intelligent, AI-powered real-time accounting platform, CashDirector helps banks attract SME/SMB customers and increase this segment’s profitability by offering enriched online banking services. The startup secured over €2.5M Series A round in 2020.
Cybersecurity
Lucy Szaszkiewicz - 1Strike.io
Lucy Szaszkiewicz‘s experience of over 15 years in sales, marketing, teaching, and finance brought her to co-found a cybersecurity startup 1Strike.io in 2021. As a CEO, she provides a SaaS platform for Breach and Attack Simulation to identify and enhance security gaps proactively and raised a $300K pre-seed funding in late 2022. Additionally, Lucy is a founder of an R&D scouting company, Tech Gap Guru, and a Member of the World Economic Forum.
Recruitment
Katarzyna Godlewska - Absolvent
Katarzyna Godlewska is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with a background in finance. In 2011, Katarzyna co-founded a social recruitment platform for students and graduates, Absolvent. Her second company Kiwi Jobs, a recruitment SaaS focused on the blue-collar workforce, exited in 2021. Currently, she is a member of the Supervisory Board at Absolvent Group and the CEO of a diet supplement company, nikalab.
Retail & E-Commerce
Kasia Gola - GeekGoesChic
With years of experience in photography, project management, lecturing, and as an entrepreneur, Kasia Gola has been a founder of a fashion tech trends forecasting platform GeekGoesChic since 2011 and an industry advisor AI & AR-powered SaaS for fashion e-commerce WEARFITS. Previously, she co-founded the cloud-ready VFX platform Flowbox.
Hanna Kokczyńska - Tylko
With an Industrial and Product Design degree, Hanna Kokczyńska worked as a journalist, editor, and co-owner of design studios. In 2012, Hanna co-founded Tylko, a D2C next-generation furniture platform offering fitting shelving and easy ordering. Serving nearly 60.000 customers and selling 70.000 shelves globally, Tylko raised Series C funding of €22M in 2021.
Marta Pyznarska - Droplabs
Marta Pyznarska graduated with a Computer Software Engineering degree in 2014 and worked in various positions, including teaching, development, web consulting, product analyst at Brainly, and product manager at Easyship. She co-founded Droplabs in 2017 as a CEO, bringing a SaaS online sales software for providers of real-life experiences, especially attractions, tours, and activities. In 2021, Droplabs secured a €750K pre-seed investment.
Maja Schaefer - Zowie
Obtaining a degree in Software Engineering and Computer Science, Maja Schaefer worked as a software developer until founding her first software development company, Codeheroes, in 2016. In 2019, she co-founded and became the CEO of Zowie, an AI-powered customer service automation platform that makes online shopping more personal and efficient. The startup closed a $14M Series A round in 2022.
Dorota Rymaszewska - hiPets
Dorota Rymaszewska has been active in the sales world for over 20 years, from corporates to startups. She worked at companies including Avon, mBank, GE Capital, and Procter & Gamble and co-founded her first company in 2019. In 2020, she founded hiPets, a booking system for pet parents that allows them to book the services they need instantly. The startup acquired one of the largest Polish pet media groups, Petsly, and raised a pre-seed round of $730K in 2021.
Małgorzata Sitkowska - Amano
With vast sales management experience, Małgorzata Sitkowska has previously worked at one of the largest transportation companies in Poland. In 2016, she co-founded a 30-minutes food delivery company in Poland, Daily.pl, that was acquired by Wolt in 2018. In 2021, Małgorzata co-founded an e-commerce startup, Amano, presenting an app that allows users to browse through shops, track purchases, and return orders. The startup raised €1.5M pre-seed in 2022.
Marketing, Sales, & Media
Tamara Bolsewicz - Meetsales
After graduating with a psychology and design management degree, Tamara Bolsewicz worked as a business, product, and marketing strategist and operations manager at various companies. She co-founded her first company in 2018. Since 2020, she has been the co-founder and CEO of Meetsales, a video commerce app for remote-first sales teams. She raised a pre-seed round of €800K in 2021.
Joanna Drabent - Prowly
Joanna Drabent is a seasoned PR specialist with over 15 years of experience. She founded her first PR agency in 2010. Joanna co-founded her current company Prowly, a PR software and an all-in-one workflow automation solution for PR professionals, in 2013. The tool was already used by over 7,000 users from more than 70 countries. In 2020, she sold the startup to SEMrush.
Barbara Soltysinska - indaHash
At the beginning of her career, Barbara Soltysinska worked in PR for 6 years. She founded her first startup LifeTube, the biggest YouTube multichannel network in Central Europe. In 2016, Barbara co-founded and became the CEO of indaHash, an automated platform enabling businesses to engage with digital influencers. The app connects over 120 000 influencers with global brands. IndaHash was acquired by ArabyAds in late 2022. She was awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year title, among other achievements.
Paulina Walkowiak - cux.io
Paulina Walkowiak has a background in market research. In 2019, she co-founded a UX & Analytics Automation Tool, cux.io. As a CEO, she helps companies translate user knowledge into specific business decisions by automating processes, looking for sales issues, and predicting customer behavior. Paulina is a lecturer, TEDx speaker, and a winner of the 50 Most Creative People in Business ranking.
Education
Magdalena Linke-Koszek - Her Impact
Magdalena Linke-Koszek is an award winning founder of community-based tech startups, having worked in HR and education. In 2019, she co-founded as a CEO the largest recruitment platform for women in Europe, Her Impact, helping women discover and develop their skills with an app. Among other awards, Magdalena was chosen to EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women EMEIA 2022 as the only Polish woman.
Aleksandra Kozera - The Village Network
As an alumnus of Harvard Graduate School of Education, Aleksandra Kozera has specialized in educational consulting and entrepreneurship in education and business development since 2010. She founded several businesses before establishing her current The Village Network, a marketplace and an online toolbox to set up, license, run, and market a childcare center or preschool. In 2022, she closed a seed round of €3.4M.
Logistics & Transportation
Magda Magnuszewska - INELO
Seasoned executive focused on tech and digital companies, Magda Magnuszewska, has worked in the startup ecosystem for over 15 years as a partner at Innova Capital and supervisory board member. In 2018, she founded INELO, a manufacturer of driver analysis and billing software and digital data acquisition equipment. The startup was acquired by Eurowag in late 2022 for €306M, with Magda as the CEO.
Aleksandra Sekowska & Anna Oplatek - Proxigroup
Aleksandra Sekowska is an entrepreneur and business analyst who co-founded Proxigroup, an industrial-level asset location, inventory management, and surveillance and monitoring software, in 2013. As the company’s COO, Aleksandra supervises industrial IoT systems implementation and maintains relationships with clients and partners.
Anna Oplatek is an engineer and manager of projects and sales with over 10 years of experience in the startup ecosystem. At Proxigroup, Anna is responsible for strategy, sales, and business development. Since 2022, she has also become a Service Delivery Manager at Hemmersbach, an IT infrastructure services provider.
Anna Walkowska - ProperGate
Anna Walkowska has been active in the Warsaw startup ecosystem since 2011. She started by building a startup, running a small coworking, joining an international community of entrepreneurs, launching a startup accelerator, founding an organization promoting and representing tech companies (Startup Poland), and more. Engaged in web app development for 15 years and the IT security field for 3 years, she, as a CTO, co-founded a smart collaboration platform for just-in-time delivery management for construction sites, ProperGate.
Mobility
Kasia Foljanty - Nevomo
Kasia Foljanty is a researcher, architect, and marketing expert specializing in railway innovations with over 15 years of experience. In 2016, she co-founded a transportation company Nevomo, implementing hyperloop-inspired solutions as an upgrade for the railway industry, where she is responsible for the marketing and design department. In 2022, the company raised €7.5M over two investments. Kasia is also an associated expert at Cities Forum.
Manufacturing
Aleksandra Owczarek - BinderLess
Before founding her company, Aleksandra Owczarek worked in various marketing positions at tech companies, including Google for Startups. In 2021, she co-founded BinderLess, a platform digitizing the document flow and streamlining decision-making for the construction industry. She also works as a Marketing & PR Manager at Packhelp, an online marketplace for custom-branded packaging, since 2022.
Sustainability
Aga Maciejowska & Justyna Wysocka-Golec - Plan Be Eco
Aga Maciejowska was active in the event management sphere for over a decade, being a co-founder and CMO at exited startup Evenea. Since 2015 she has been a co-organizer at Techstars Startup Weekend. In 2021, she co-founded the startup Plan Be Eco, mentioned among our Polish climate tech innovators, providing a standard-compliant, simple carbon footprint reporting software for organizations.
The second co-founder of Plan Be Eco, Justyna Wysocka-Golec, is an experienced sustainability manager with over 15 years of working in the environmental services industry. Besides being Head the Sustainability at her company, Justyna is also the Director of BA Climate Change, Energy & Decarbonisation at KPMG Poland and founded her first energy startup in 2016.
Martyna Sztaba - Syntoil
With a prior career in media, journalism, PR, and podcaster, Martyna Szaba has founded a few businesses throughout her career. In 2018, she founded Syntoil, a system transforming end-of-life tires and rubber waste into commercial products. Her expertise varies from sustainability topics such as recovered carbon black, waste-free technologies, and recycling to entrepreneurship and problem-solving.
Matylda Szyrle - Listny Cud
With a previous experience as Business Analyst at various companies, including McKinsey, Matylda Szyrle founded Listny Cud in 2020. Listny Cud is an urban vertical farm startup selling healthy, local, and sustainable food and producing vertical farming technology. She has been recognized by Forbes Poland in 23 Women for 2023.
Gaming & Entertainment
Anna Korc - Digimans.ai
With over 15 years of experience working in the online media industry, Anna Korc is an experienced manager in business development, digital strategy, sales, and marketing. Last year, in 2022, Anna co-founded and became the CEO of Digimans.ai, a development studio for AI-generated characters for game creators. She recently graduated from an Oxford Executive Leadership program.
Aleksandra Pedraszewska - VividQ
Aleksandra Pedraszewska is a young entrepreneur with prior experience in PLUGin as a Head of Startups and program coordinator. Throughout her studies, she worked in marketing and sales as an analyst and conference manager. Aleksandra co-founded startup VividQ, a visual holographic technology enabling hardware manufacturers, game developers, and content creators to build immersive AR experiences. VividQ closed a seed round of £11M in 2021. She was recognized in the 30 Under 30 list by Forbes.
Wiktoria Wójcik - inStreamly
As a young entrepreneur, Wiktoria Wójcik started as a gamer, then a streamer, e-sports host, and marketer in the gaming space. Wiktoria co-founded startup inStreamly in 2019 as a CMO, introducing an automated streamer management platform that brings brands and streamers together. Over the last 4 years, she helped 150+ brands reach gamers in 12 countries and over 100 000 streamers. The startup raised a seed round of €1.1M in 2021. For her achievements, Wiktoria was awarded by Forbes in the categories 30 Under 30 Europe, 25 Under 25 Poland, and 30 Under 30 Poland.
Industry-Agnostic
Aga Kopytko - Smabbler
Aga Kopytko previously worked in the media industry, event management, research, and strategy. In 2014, she co-founded Smabbler, a language AI engine built to interpret, generalize and infer knowledge from unstructured text, making it instantly usable. The solution can be applied in manufacturing, aerospace, and electronics.
Barbara Koźbiał & Natalia Czapracka - Scramjet
With an experience in project management and IT analysis, Barbara Koźbiał co-founded a cloud computing service provider Scramjet in 2020. The startup presents a computing engine ready to transform data of any size from any source. With Barbara as a COO, the startup raised a pre-seed round of $1M in 2021.
Natalia Czapracka is a second co-founder of Scramjet and the company’s CMO. With a degree in management and marketing, Natalia’s prior experience covers brand management, retail marketing management, and co-founding a creative content production agency.
