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Entrepreneurship Lunch Special: “Celebrating International Female Founders”
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FOYER (Start-up Labs)
FOYER
Start-up Labs
Luruper Hauptstraße 1
22547 Hamburg
Description
Entrepreneurship Lunch Special: Celebrating International Female Founders
Join us for a Special Edition of the Entrepreneurship Lunch
As part of the Female Entrepreneurship Week – organized by HAW Hamburg and Startup Port within the framework of the Global Entrepreneurship Week – this year’s session will shine a spotlight on the diverse journeys and international backgrounds of female founders and #sciencepreneurs. Together, we’ll explore how cross-cultural collaboration, resilience, and inclusive leadership drive innovation and strengthen the start-up ecosystem.
Keynote: “My Story of RayVen – From Lab Bench to CEO Desk”
by Célia Millon, Founder & CEO of RayVen Laser
Célia Millon will share her inspiring journey from being an international female scientist to leading a deeptech start-up. Navigating bureaucracy through the EXIST Forschungstransfer program and building a diverse, evolving team, her story highlights the power of resilience, scientific excellence, and inclusive entrepreneurship.
Célia Millon is the co-founder and CEO of RayVen Laser GmbH, a deeptech spin-off from Ruhr University Bochum’s Photonic and Ultrafast Laser Science group. After completing her PhD at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and postdoctoral research at École Polytechnique and Ruhr University Bochum, she specialized in ultrafast laser technologies and spectroscopy. In 2024, she secured a public grant to launch RayVen, developing robust, high-power 2-µm ultrafast lasers for scientific and industrial applications. Today, she leads RayVen’s growth from research to a scalable deeptech company.
Panel Discussion: “Female Founding in Hamburg”
The discussion will explore the experiences of international female (pre-)founders in Hamburg - from navigating the bureaucratic jungle and exploring funding opportunities to building and developing diverse international teams.
With:
- Sharon Nisha Thiruvarul Durai, Founder and CEO of Ploviti
- Anna Good, Co-founder of Accelerated Muscle Biotechnologies
- Pirasteh Pahlavan, Bioinformatics researcher and pre-founder
- Yu Chen, Project Manager at Startup Unit Hamburg/Hamburg Invest
- Moderated by: Lizzy Harmstorf, DESY Start-up Office
Sharon Nisha Thiruvarul Durai is the founder and CEO of Ploviti, a Hamburg-based deeptech start-up offering AI-powered indoor navigation for supermarkets, airports, and malls. With double master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Technology Management from TU Hamburg and NIT, she received both the EXIST Women and Innofounder grants and was among the top 10 finalists of Female StartAperitivo. Starting as a solo founder, Sharon has grown Ploviti into a team of ten across Hamburg and Melbourne. The beta version of the app will launch in a Hamburg supermarket at the end of October 2025.
Anna Good is co-founder of Accelerated Muscle Biotechnologies (AMB), a biotech start-up providing experimental services for cardiac and skeletal muscle research. She holds an MBA from Northern Arizona University and combines entrepreneurship and science writing with a focus on translational research. AMB established its European base at the DESY Campus in Hamburg, benefiting from its vibrant biotech ecosystem. Anna has taken part in Helmholtz programs such as Future Innovators and the Field Study Fellowship.
Driven by a passion for transforming scientific discovery into real-world impact, Pirasteh Pahlavan brings over 15 years of experience in biotechnology and bioinformatics. Rooted in Iran and expanding globally, she is now preparing to found a deeptech start-up, dedicated to pioneering advanced AI solutions that reduce treatment toxicity and improve patient outcomes. She believes that empowering others through purposeful technology creates better futures for individuals, communities, and science alike.
Yu Chen has been working as a project manager at the Startup-Unit Hamburg for two years and is passionately committed to strengthening and connecting the local start-up ecosystem. After many years in management consulting, she now supports founders and aspiring entrepreneurs as a guide through Hamburg’s diverse start-up landscape, which is mapped on the Startup City Hamburg platform – from the first idea to international positioning.
Lizzy Harmstorf is a Startup Port consultant and coach supporting international pre-founders in deeptech and research-based entrepreneurship at DESY Campus. Originally from the UK, she brings broad experience from founding ventures and working in major global corporations, including time as an expat in Singapore. Her international background and curiosity make her a skilled moderator, connecting diverse founder stories with clarity and energy.
Join us to connect, learn, and celebrate the resilience, creativity, and diversity that drive female entrepreneurship across borders. The talk and discussion will be followed by a light lunch while there is time to network. The event is hosted by the DESY Start-up Office and Start-up Labs Hamburg and is supported by Startup Port and Startup City Hamburg.
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We use an inclusive definition of “woman” and “female”, and we warmly welcome trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female or woman. Allies are welcome too!
This event will be held in English.
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Date: 20 November 2025 Time: 11:00 - 14:00 Place: Start-up Labs - Foyer Luruper Hauptstraße 1, 22547 Hamburg |
DESY Start-up Office
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