DLA Piper announces cooperation with Female Founders

DLA Piper is partnering with Female Founders on a pro bono basis as part of its Leadership Alliance for Women (LAW) initiative.

The Europe-wide "Female Founders" network supports female entrepreneurs in realizing their business ideas. DLA Piper is the exclusive international legal partner of the online accelerator programme "Grow F", which supports selected international startups with innovative and scalable business models. The aim of the programme is to prepare young companies for the first round of financing by introducing the topic of fundraising to the founding female entrepreneurs with training and advice provided by DLA Piper lawyers. Vienna based lawyer Valerie Kramer heads up the project, supported by partner Maria Doralt, who is the regional head for LAW in Austria, and associate Armin Redl.

DLA Piper is committed to equal opportunities for women in the workplace across all industries. The Leadership Alliance for Women (LAW) initiative, DLA Piper's international gender balance network, serves as a platform for these efforts.

DLA Piper partner Maria Doralt, commenting on the initiative, said: "DLA Piper stands for diversity and equality. We also live by these principles within our firm. In Austria, for example, we have five female lawyers at equity partner level and a very high proportion of women across all seniority levels. Extending these principles beyond our own firm, we are particularly interest in making an international contribution to the empowerment of female entrepreneurs in partnership with Female Founders." Carina Klaffl, Head of the Online Accelerator "Grow F" added: “We are pleased to be able to work with one of the world's leading law firms and thus offer our startups significant added value. With DLA Piper, they have a deeply knowledgeable contact to which they can direct legally relevant questions regarding financing rounds and other topics.”