Karly Alves Ribeiro, co-founder of sheerME, has been named one of the top three women leading fast‑growing startups in Southern Europe by Sifted, the Financial Times–backed publication covering Europe’s tech and startup ecosystem.
Her company, sheerME, is one of four Portuguese startups featured in the Sifted 100: France & Southern Europe 2025, ranking sixth overall with a two‑year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 330.95%.
The company offers a wellness super app that enables users to discover, book, and pay for beauty, wellness, and fitness services, all via a digital wallet with cashback and top‑up rewards.
The Sifted 100 recognizes private and independent startups founded in or after 2010 with sustained revenue growth – from at least €50,000 to over €500,000 across three consecutive years.
According to Ribeiro, who also serves as chief operations officer (Brazil) at sheerME, there is a need for more women to create companies, turn ideas into businesses, and demonstrate that leadership has no gender.
When asked what could accelerate the rise of female‑led startups in Portugal, she highlighted both opportunity and access.
“I believe there are many women in Portugal eager to innovate and launch startups, but often they don’t know where to begin,” she told Portugal Startup News.
“Entrepreneurship is starting to be discussed more in universities, which is a positive step, but the path still needs to be clearer and more accessible. With more support and concrete initiatives aimed at women, we could see many more ideas taking shape. The potential is here, it just needs to be unleashed.”
Ribeiro sets a powerful example for aspiring entrepreneurs. She holds a degree in psychology and brings more than a decade of multidisciplinary experience spanning people management, operational strategy, and commercial leadership.
Before co-founding sheerME, she worked at Zomato as a senior finance associate and co-founded Reveal Portugal, a digital platform that focused on the country’s culture and lifestyle. She is also an angel investor with AngelsWay, backing scalable Portuguese startups that combine tech innovation with social impact, especially women‑led ventures.
Despite inspiring stories like Ribeiro’s, gender imbalance remains pronounced in the region’s startup ecosystem: only 13 of the 100 companies in this year’s Sifted ranking include a woman on the founding team. Among the 21 fintechs listed, only one had a female co‑founder, and deeptech – covering AI, machine learning, and R&D‑intensive sectors – had zero female founder representation.
Broader European trends add context, showing both challenges and bright spots. In 2024, women-founded startups in Europe raised €5.76 billion across 1,305 deals – representing 12% of all venture capital raised that year, according to the 2025 Female Innovation Index cited by Sifted.
Investment in women-led startups dropped by 12% in 2024 compared to 2023, falling from €6.56 billion to €5.76 billion. But this decline mirrored the overall downturn in venture capital funding. What’s encouraging is that women entrepreneurs maintained their share of total VC investment, receiving 12% of all funding – up from the 10% average between 2020 and 2022 – though significant gaps in funding equality remain.
Featured image: Karly Alves Ribeiro, co-founder of Portugal’s sheerME, a wellness app for booking beauty and fitness services. (Photo courtesy of sheerME)
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