Nine fintech founders, executives and investors have been named among Europe’s top 100 women in technology, recognized for their impact in digital finance, drive, and ingenuity.

Sifted’s inaugural 100 Women in Tech in Europe 2025 spotlights the 100 women making a real impact and shaping the future of the European tech ecosystem. These women were selected among over 2,500 nominations, shortlisted by a panel of tech figures representing organizations such as Wise, Starling, Slush, and HV Capital.

Of the 100 women that made it into the 2025 100 Women in Tech in Europe list, nine are involved in the fintech and insurtech sectors, spearheading innovation, and supporting the region’s next generation of tech champions. These women represent companies like insurtech startup Cachet, investment firm Index Ventures, and fintech startup Banxware, serving as driving forces behind their companies and advocating for other women in their industries.

Elin Bäcklund, CTO, Gilion

Elin Bäcklund is the CTO of Gilion, where she oversees the company’s technical innovation and direction.

Founded in 2021 in Stockholm, Gilion, formerly known as Ark Kapital, provides loans to high-growth companies in the field of software as a service (SaaS), operating in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany.

Before joining Gilion, Bäcklund led the development of Motherbrain, EQT’s machine learning (ML) platform designed to identify promising investment opportunities.

Gabriele Papievyte, Head of Ventures, XTX Markets

Gabriele Papievyte leads XTX Ventures at XTX Markets, an algorithmic market maker leveraging machine learning (ML) to optimize financial markets. Launched in London in 2017, XTX Ventures invests in late-seed to Series A companies working on ML and artificial intelligence (AI) software, or deeptech, providing between US$500,000 and US$5 million per deal. It has nearly 30 active portfolio companies, including Anthropic, Groq, and Tenstorrent.

Papievyte serves on the boards of multiple of XTX Ventures portfolio companies. She is also an active member of the LT Big Brother mentorship program, the Conception X deeptech advisory board, and as an advisor for the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Previously, she helped launch Inovia Capital’s European operations and a US$450 million growth fund, have invested and supported the boards of Neo4j and Zwift. She started her career in technology mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and startups.

Hedi Mardisoo, Co-Founder and CEO, Cachet

Hedi Mardisoo is the co-founder and CEO of Cachet, an Estonia-headquartered Techstars portfolio company transforming the insurance industry for the platform economy. Cachet leverages cross-market data to offer personalized and flexible insurance solutions based on real gig-work activity. The company operates in over 20 European countries and partner with over 15 insurers and a number of leading platforms.

Mardisoo is an experienced leader with more than 20 years of international management experience. Prior to Cachet, she served as the head of corporate affairs, group business support and group IT, at Swedbank and as the CMO of telecommunications provider Starman (now Elisa). She has also consulted and advised Estonian tech companies and startups like Click and Grow.

Kärt Siilats, Co-Founder, Mojo Capital, Venture Partner, SuperAngel

Kärt Siilats is the co-founder of Mojo Capital, a Luxembourg-based investment firm backing European digital technology growth organizations. The firm invests in European VC funds like Seedcamp and in startups like cross-border firm Wise, point-of-sale (POS) terminal provider Zettle by PayPal, previously known as iZettle, open banking startup Tink, and AI-powered identity verification startup Veriff.

Siilats also serves as a venture partner at Superangel, an early-stage Baltic-Nordic fund investing in innovation-driven startups, and as an angel investor and mentor, at Techstars and Creative Destruction Labs. She also co-founded GoBeyond Capital that focuses on diverse angel investments and syndicates and giving exceptional young people gender-balanced access to VC industry via the 101 Fellowship.

Katharina Wilhelm, Partner, Index Ventures

Katharina Wilhelm is a partner at Index Ventures, a European VC firm. Based in Berlin and London, Wilhelm focuses on business-to-business (B2B) startups solving complex enterprise challenges, serving as Index’s lead investor for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH). She works with companies like Duna, a business identity platform that simplifies compliance and customers onboarding, and Taxfix, an AI-native financial platform for digital tax solutions.

Born and raised in Germany, Wilhelm holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelors degree from the University of St. Gallen. Prior to joining Index, she invested in early-stage enterprise and productivity software at Cherry Ventures. She started her career at The Boston Consulting Group, based in Zurich.

Lina Chong, Partner, HV Capital

Lina Chong is a partner at HV Capital, an early-stage and growth investor in Europe where she leads investments in B2B SaaS and enterprise software across the region. With a proven track record in finding and scaling European startups like iZettle, TravelPerk, and Fresha, she’s been a driving force behind their growth, leveraging her experience at Target Global and Hasso Plattner Ventures as well as her deep operator experience as a founder.

Before moving into VC, Chong co-founded and exited two consumer-facing companies, DealKeren and Luster. She is trained in philosophy and law, and is known as a founder-first investor passionate about empowering Europe’s next wave of enterprise innovators.

Miriam Wohlfarth, Founder and Co-CEO, Banxware

Miriam Wohlfarth is the founder and co-CEO of Banxware, a company established in 2020 in Germany to provide embedded finance solutions for digital businesses.

Before Banxware, Wohlfarth founded Ratepay in 2009, now a unicorn and part of Nexi, and co-founded Paymentandbanking.com, a financial news portal. Since 2019, she has been a shareholder of the Startup Teens Network.

Besides her role at Banxware, Wohlfarth is also a supervisory board member at Daimler Mobility, Freenet, and talentsconnect. Additionally, she is a member of the Digital Finance Forum of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, and serves as co-chair of the Federal Association of German Startups.

Triin Hertmann, Angel Investor

Triin Hertmann is an experienced angel investor, fund limited partner, and co-founder of Grünfin, a sustainable investment platform based in Estonia.

With 20 years of experience in tech and fintech, Hertmann previously spent six years at Skype before joining Wise as its second employee, where she built the finance and payments operations from the ground up.

Today, she focuses her investments on impact-driven and female-founded startups, combining her operational background with a mission to create a more sustainable and inclusive startup ecosystem.

Triin Linamagi, Founder and CEO, Sie Ventures

Triin Linamagi is the founder and CEO of Sie Ventures, a capital platform for female-founded and co-founded businesses, and investors in Europe. Sie Ventures’s goal is to close the gender funding gap by providing female founders with better access to capital, investor network, and experienced founder community. So far, it has supported over 100 companies that have collectively raised GBP 200 million (US$267 million).

Prior to Sie Ventures, Linamagi was an investor at TVC. She also served as the investment lead in fintech and AI at Founders Factory, and was the head of ecosystem and a portfolio manager at Startupbootcamp Fintech.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by fabrikasimf via Freepik