Launched in partnership with Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Women Startup Challenge is on a mission 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.
Healthtech startups across Europe, and those in the US who have a presence in Europe, with at least one woman cofounder can apply to this Startup Challenge. The 10 finalists will pitch our distinguished jury of investors on 7 October in Paris. The distinguished jury has included investors from Mozilla, GV (Google Ventures), Techstars, Illuminate Ventures, OneRagtime, and tech editors from the BBC, TNW, tech.eu, and more.
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Overview:
On October 7, 2019, the Women Startup Challenge Europe HealthTech will showcase 10 of the best early-stage, women-led healthtech startups from across Europe, and those in the US with a presence in Europe. The program is cohosted by Johnson & Johnson’s JLABS and the Office of the Mayor of Paris.
The Women Startup Challenge Program will be held at City Hall in Paris, France. Prizes include $50,000 as an equity-free cash grant, one-on-one mentoring with investors, among other critical startup services.
NOTE:
The applicants must take note of the following few things.
- In order to qualify as an eligible startup, they cannot have raised more than €2.1M from combined sources.
- The startup must incorporate technology into the approach of the candidates’ product.
- All ideas must be original work or an improvement upon an existing idea without infringements.
- 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.
The deadline of submitting applications is August 1, 2019 at 11:59 PM PST. (The deadline given in the deadline section is UTC+0.)
Location:
FranceBenefits
- The finalists will each receive a grand prize of $50,000 at Hôtel de Ville in Paris.
- Funding, mentoring, and other resources are provided for women who are creating the most innovative tech companies to help scale their products.
Eligibilities
- The startup must be focused on healthtech.
- The candidates’ tech venture must be at the prototype stage or have already launched. You cannot be in concept stage.
- Applications must be submitted in English. All finalists pitches must be done in English.
- The startup must incorporate technology into the approach of the candidates’ product, which allows the company to rapidly and massively scale in a manner that traditional, independent small businesses cannot.
- Fast growing with degrees of innovation and technology.
- Raised less than €2.1M from combined sources.
- The applicant/applicants is/are a technical founder or have a technical cofounder.
- This is a woman-led startup – defined as at least having at least one woman founder or cofounder on the team.
- All ideas must be original work or an improvement upon an existing idea without infringements.
- Rules:
- The startup must be located within Europe or based in the US with a presence in Europe.
- Agencies or consulting businesses are not eligible unless a product that fits the above criteria has been created.
- 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.
Application Process
- All applications must be submitted in English, and all pitches must be conducted in English.
- Applications will be accepted from June 12, 2019 at 7AM PST until August 1, 2019 at 11:59PM PST.
- Applications will only be accepted online. Applicants are recommended use the given link below.
Application Deadline: August 2, 2019
Application ClosedOfficial link
