Women Startup Challenge Europe 2018
Submission Deadline08/07/2018
Description

Women Startup Challenge Europe showcases and funds innovative, women-led tech startups in Europe that are solving problems for people, businesses, and the planet. Launched in partnership with Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies, we are on a mssion to close the funding gap and shakeup a culture and economy that's made it exceedingly difficult for women to launch startups and raise capital. We provide funding, mentoring and other resources for women who are creating the most innovative tech companies to help scale their products. Prizes include up to 60K USD as a cash grant, including a 25K USD cash grant to be awarded by Mozilla for the finalist who has best build privacy, transparency and accountability into their startup, as well as one-on-one mentoring with investors on 26 October 2018 at Mozilla, and other startup friendly services. (Prizes subject to change.)

Startups in Europe with at least one woman cofounder can apply to this Startup Challenge. The 10 best applicants will be selected to pitch their startup on stage at Hôtel de Ville, Paris, cohosted by the Office of  Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on October 25th, 2018. Our distinguished jury includes investors from Mozilla, GV (Google Ventures), Techstars, Illluminate Ventures, OneRagtime, and tech editors from the BBC, TNW, tech.eu, and more.

 
Rules

Criteria:

  • Your tech venture can be at the prototype stage or have already launched. You cannot be in concept stage.
  • Your applications must be submitted in English. All finalists pitches must be done in English.  
  • Your startup must incorporate technology into the approach of your product, which allows the company to rapidly and massively scale in a manner that traditional, independent small businesses cannot. Please note that using tech (i.e. hosting a blog, selling products on your website, or using social media in your marketing) does not qualify as using tech to scale on a mass level nationally and globally.
  • Fast growing with degrees of innovation and technology.
  • You’ve raised less than €2.1M from combined sources.
  • You are a technical founder or you have a technical cofounder. Note: If you are not a technical cofounder and you don’t have a technical cofounder, please email us and tell us more about your setup.
  • You are a woman-led startup (defined as at least having at least one woman Cofounder on the team).
  • All ideas must be original work or an improvement upon an existing idea without infringements.

Rules:

  • Your startup must be located within Europe, and have a European bank account.
  • Note: Agencies or consulting businesses are not eligible unless you have created a product that fits the above criteria.
  • Prior Women Startup Challenge finalists are not eligible to apply unless they have a new startup and new product. Finalists from the Women Startup Challenge Podcast are, however, eligible to apply for the in-person pitch competition.
  • All applications must be submitted in English, and all pitches must be conducted in English.
  • Applications will be accepted from June 27, 2018 at 8:00am CET until August 7, 2018 at 18:00 CET.
  • Applications will only be accepted online through http://www.womenwhotech.com and through the reviewr.com site.
  • No applicant may reach out to judges, sponsors, and/or partners in advance of Women Startup Challenge Europe advocating for their startup. Anyone who does will be disqualified.
  • We reserve the right to select and reject winners at any time, and we may add finalists to any round of the competition to give more entrepreneurs access to Women Startup Challenge Europe.
  • All finalists must pay their own travel and accommodations to the final Pitch Competition in Paris on October 25, 2018.
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