She Loves Tech and Kerala Startup Mission bring world’s largest startup competition for women in tech to India
In a first, She Loves Tech, in association with Kerala Startup Mission, will be hosting a high-level competition for women-centric tech startups in India.
The number of funding deals closed by women-led startups between Jan-Sep 2018 accounted for just 15 percent of the total. Of the 660 deals closed, companies with women co-founders closed 82 deals, while solo women founders closed only 20.
In an attempt to raise these numbers and boost women-led startups in India, She Loves Tech and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) invite women-centric startups to apply for the competition.
With a global presence in over 20 countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore, USA and UAE, China-based She Loves Tech, in partnership with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), will finally be bringing the world's largest women-based tech startup competition to India. KSUM is the nodal government organisation that promotes startups in Kerala.
Any startup that uses technology to positively impact women, or startups with at least one woman founder, and with a minimum viable product and have raised under $5 million, seeking seed, angel or Series A funding, are eligible to apply.
The competition is particularly looking for tech startups in the spaces of fintech, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, internet of things (IoT), medtech, clean energy, agritech, edtech, and consumer tech.
The last date to apply for India is June 15, 2019. The shortlisted startups will be announced on June 25, and will be eligible to get funded at the Mentorship and Investor Cafe rounds, to be held between July 9 and July 17.
Following this, 10 final shortlisted startups will get a chance to pitch at The National Grand Challenge that will be held in Kochi on July 18.
The winning startup will be sent to attend a bootcamp in Beijing, China, and pitch in front of the jury. They will also be able to attend the Global Finals and International Conference in Beijing on September 7.