How SonderConnect is taking women founders global with an Indo-French programme

In June, 10 women founders in technology will travel to France as part of a cohort curated by SonderConnect and CCFI (Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Franco-Indienne). They will attend VivaTech, one of Europe’s largest technology conferences, meet world-class mentors, and sit across the table from potential clients in France. 

Called Indo-French Ignite x 2026, the cohort invites applications from women founders who run revenue-generating (B2C, B2B) ventures in AI/GenAI, SaaS, and sustainability. The programme will cover stay, entry to VivaTech, sessions and other meetings.

The programme is also conceived as an exchange, not a one-way delegation. SonderConnect is also working to bring ten women founders from France to India, tentatively in November this year. 

SonderConnect was founded in 2016 to give women founders a platform, mentorship, investor access, and peer community they were largely being shut out of. 

A decade later, it has completed nine cohorts, supported 167 women-led startups and impacted over 250 female founders. Nearly 35 of those startups have collectively raised over $100 million, with three of them being Shark Tank winners. And 70% of the businesses SonderConnect has worked with are still in business.

“2026 is the year of Indo-France Innovation. It started with President Emmanuel Macron visiting the AI summit in India. I met the AI Minister for France at the summit. She is very interested in the programme and has said she will take a personal interest in it. We have Business France and French Tech as partners,” says Lathika Pai, Co-founder of SonderConnect.

Pai believes three factors will work in favour of women founders from India.

“First, France is a great destination because it’s actively looking for startups to have a base there. Second, a lot of cutting-edge technology is happening in the country, from AI to a strong focus on sustainability. Third, VivaTech is a flagship event where they will get to potential clients,” she says.

For French entrepreneurs visiting India, India is an attractive proposition both as a potential market and as a source of technology and back-office resources.

Europe has a strong technology research ecosystem, and India is known for its scale and talent. Pai believes these strengths can complement each other.

“We are creating an eclectic set of specialists Indian founders can engage with and learn from—understanding what cutting-edge research is happening across Europe, with France among the leaders in the European ecosystem. And for women founders from France coming here, it’s about leveraging the talent available in India, not to mention the market opportunity,” she elaborates. 

Pai also highlights the importance of bringing more women founders into AI and frontier technologies.

“We don’t want women to be left behind. Whenever new technologies emerge, women’s representation tends to be low,” she says.

What are some unique challenges faced by women founders when expanding internationally?

“Navigating a new geography, finding people you can trust, understanding the legal aspects of setting up an entity, accounting, and other aspects are difficult for any founder. 

“What this programme does is ensure that when a female founder is ready to expand, there is already a network of people to support her through setup, GTM strategy, legal, and accounting,” she says.

The programme has top women leaders in France supporting the programme, the country head for LTI Mindtree; Anne Le Hénanff, the Minister for AI; Estelle David, Trade and Investment Commissioner for Business France, and others.

SonderConnect’s co-founder, Vaishali Kasture, who is also India GM, Small and Medium Enterprises and Channel, Microsoft, and Irina Ghose, Trustee (SonderConnect) and MD of Anthropic, are supporting the programme in India.

SonderConnect is all set to build a global ecosystem for women founders.

“France is first — next will be the UK, the Far East, and other markets. The goal is to create a powerful global network of women founders and leaders. What we’ve seen is that almost 80% of the mentors we engage are women leaders in their respective countries, which is really the foundation of what we want to build —a very focused and powerful network for women entrepreneurs across different countries. And hopefully, enable joint research too,” says Pai. 

Founders interested in the programme may apply to Indo-French Ignite x 2026 by March 31.