She Loves Tech Global Startup Competition 2023

Deadline: 21 September 2023

Applications are now open for the She Loves Tech Global Startup Competition, designed to give the world’s most promising women tech entrepreneurs and women impact startups a unique opportunity to showcase the businesses to a global audience of investors and influencers.

The annual competition series kicks off with mentorship sessions and pitch rounds globally before culminating in a boot camp and global finals hosted during the She Loves Tech Global Conference. The competition and conference will gather the best technology brands, leaders, entrepreneurs and investors, providing startups with a wide program of investment, mentorship, and networking opportunities as well as intensive global media exposure.

All startups must be technology-based startups and for the avoidance of doubt, technology is defined as the use of science and innovation to invent useful things or to solve problems. This extends beyond digital, information or internet-based technology and covers everything from hardware to the creation of new products and solutions to existing problems. The series is jointly administered by She Loves Tech and its respective local organising partners.

To respond to the world’s urgent needs, they are especially looking for startups in the following verticals:

Fintech
Enterprise Solutions
Health & Well-Being
Education
CleanTech & Sustainability
Consumer & Retail
Food & AgriTech
Women’s Issues
Smart Cities

Eligibility Criteria

Early Stage Startup
- Technology startup with at least a minimum viable product (past conceptual stage) with less than US$5M external funding raised.
Gender Lens
- Technology startup fulfilling one of the following gender lens:
  - Female founder
  - Majority female users
  - Majority female consumers
  - Technology impacting women positively
The Competition is open to startups from any part of the world. However, each startup may only apply for ONE (1) local competition round with consideration of whether the country or region where you reside, work or have operations in has a round or not. If you came from a country or region without a local round then you should apply to your nearest competition round. For inconsistencies, registrations may be redirected by She Loves Tech.
Any entrepreneur, male or female, who is using technology to impact women positively, is eligible to participate.
Any employee of the company may submit the application to the competition on behalf of the company’s founder, however, only one of the founders must pitch at the competition.

Competition Process

Screening and Preparation: May – August 2023
- Applications will be evaluated by the global screening team with the final shortlisted startups receiving access to exclusive pitch preparation curriculum and mentorship sessions.
- They will look at the range of criteria including market opportunity, traction, scalability and growth potential, innovation and creativity, calibre of founder and team.
Local Rounds: June – September 2023
- Shortlisted startups will take the stage to showcase their businesses in their respective Local rounds hosted in different countries and regions. The winner of each round will then move into the global phase of the Competition.
Bootcamp: October 2023
- A hybrid boot camp especially curated for the winners of each local round will take place online and offline in October. The boot camp is based on experiential learning, mentorship and peer coaching. It covers market, innovation and fundraising topics.
Global Semi-Finals & Finals: October 2023
- The Global Semi-Finals of the competition will serve as the penultimate competition round as well as an investor demo day, allowing startups to pitch to high-level group of investors directly for funding.
Global Finals & Conference: October 2023
- All the global finalists will have the opportunity to fly to Singapore to join the She Loves Tech Global Conference, Asia’s global flagship for women and technology event where the top global winners will also be provided the stage to showcase their businesses in front of the global audiences. The Top 10 startups will be pitching at the culminating round will have the opportunity to win cash and investment prizes. Startups have the opportunity to win up to US$50,000 investment and cash prizes.

Application Deadlines

June 30: Japan, South Korea, South Europe, West Europe, Nordics
July 15: Bangladesh
July 31: Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia, Sri Lanka
August 13: Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Pacific Islands, Australia
August 21: Africa
August 29: India
August 31: China, Central Asia
September 4: Mongolia
September 15: Middle East, Latin America
September 21: Israel, Turkiye, Baltics, Central & Eastern Europe, United Kingdom, North America.