StartHer Launches Largest Competition for Female Founded Startups

Paris based non-profit organisation that supports women in tech and entrepreneurship, StartHer (formerly Girls in Tech Paris), launched the StartHer Awards, Europe’s biggest competition for female-founded start-ups. The Award is set to take place October 19th at recently opened start-up campus Station F in Paris.

The competition will be preceded by a day of workshops, conferences, and an opportunity to meet key figures from throughout the startup ecosystem. The winner will be awarded 10.000€ by StartHer to help develop her start-up. Other finalists will receive a multitude of perks from partners to support their projects.

For this event, StartHer has got some really top-notch partners on board. MasterCard, RCI Bank and Services will support the Awards, and several other partners soon to be announced.

The StartHer Awards: A unique European event showcasing female entrepreneurs

As an extension of Lady Pitch Night competition which gathered 300 applications from 28 countries in Europe and was held in Paris for the previous five years, the StartHer Awards aim to highlight and give visibility to female startup founders and to encourage diversity in tech. Some of the previous winners of the event include Nordic start-ups Findify (Sweden) and EasySize (Denmark). For instance, following their win, EasySize raised two rounds of funding, with notable participation by Fashion Capital Partners and Nicolas Santi-Weil, founder of The Kooples. EasySize has also released a new product, Size Advice, reinforced their European presence, begun their expansion into the Asian market, and built out their team with employees in the UK and the Middle East, and plans to expand to France.

This competition is much more than a one-day event; it’s a dynamic and solid community that has continued on after the competition. It’s really exciting to be a part of it,” says Gulnaz Khusainova, founder of EasySize, and winner of the 2015 Lady Pitch Night competition. “The event helped us to attract the attention of French investors, which was a huge help! Assistance with growing our business in France has been useful, as it’s one of our major target markets.

Who is eligible to enter the Award?

The Award is open to any tech startup (mobile, video games, AI, VR, etc) that is between 6 and 36 months old, is headquartered in a European country, and has at least one woman on the founding team. The application deadline is August, 31. As part of a track organised in partnership with RCI Bank and Services and dedicated to this theme, fintech startups can apply to the StartHer Awards as well.

StartHer will select ten finalists to come to Paris on October 19th, 2017, to present their startups in front of a jury of experts, investors, and entrepreneurs, as well as to an audience of over 300 people. All travel expenses with regards to the Awards will be covered. All of the finalists will receive spots to attend some of the biggest tech conferences in the world and will have plenty of opportunities during and after the event to meet with the leading figures of European startup ecosystem. The winner will receive 10,000 € and a unique opportunity to pitch in Paris during the Awards.

Click here to apply to the StartHer Awards before August 31!