The HearstLab investment fund, part of the Hearst Corporation communication group, has arrived in Spain, and where it has announced its first investment. It has in particular joined the investment round in which the company Recovo from the fashion industry has raised one million euros. Other firms such as Zubi Capital and Draper B1 have also participated.

Recovo is a SaaS platform for end-to-end circular solutions for the fashion industry. It aims to reduce the environmental impact caused by the fashion industry and become the benchmark platform in textile sustainability. So far, it has prevented around 90 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and has saved 18 million litres of water and 400,000 square metres of textile waste.

Bridging the gender gap
The US media group’s fund is focused on investing in companies founded and led by women, with the aim of reducing the gender gap in venture capital. HearstLab Europe announced the investment on its account on the professional social network LinkedIn, and showed its enthusiasm for “working with such an extraordinary group of founders”, referring to Mónica Rodríguez, Marta Iglesias and Gonzalo Sáenz, “and an experienced, purpose-driven team with a clear and strong ambition”.

This investment has not come alone. HearstLab has also organised a competition for female entrepreneurs in Spain to share its launch in our country. A total of 130 projects were submitted to the competition, which closed at the beginning of October with a final event attended by the six finalists.

Investment for female entrepreneurs
The Wivi Vision and Bandora projects were the winners of the HearstLab Madrid Pitch. Their promoters received an investment of 100,000 euros each to support the growth of their business. The other four finalists were Uelz, Break Event, Bitmetrics and Fuel Your Brands.

Wivi Vision, created and led by Eva García, develops immersive and interactive technology based on 3D and artificial intelligence, with the aim of assessing and improving visual dysfunctions at an affordable price. Bandora, Marcia Pereira’s proposal, is developing a system to transform any smart building into an autonomous building, integrated with an existing internet of things (IoT).

^{Photo: HearstLab}