Deadline:
As soon as possible
Location(s)
Albania Austria Czech Republic Hungary Kosovo UN1244 (*not recognized by majority of countries) Malaysia United Kingdom
Tirana, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Kuala Lumpur, London
Overview
WSC is an independent not-for-profit business incubation platform with the mission to support female entrepreneurs in the critical early years. We run our signature program in 10 countries.
We are a network of individuals who are true believers that we can create a better world.
Details
Advocating for a more gender-balanced world
Female entrepreneurs are a huge untapped potential of the world economy. Still, only less than 3% of VC capital is going to female-founded startups.
Leads to a better world
Gender diversity is not only about making things fair, it directly translates into social, economic and business impact.
Women bring new priorities and topics into the innovation scene, and they are also more likely to reinvest their profit into society.
Our work and impact
To date, WSC has completed 7 years of the program, and cumulatively supported 800+ female-founded early-stage startups in 10 countries. Through our events, we act as a catalyst to build a supportive ecosystem, we empower women with skills, visibility and important connections.
European Pitching Competition Roadshow
Each year we engage with and help hundreds of female entrepreneurs across Europe. Chapter pitching events in European countries then a London Final event for best startups from each country. Our program is designed in a way to give tangible support to founders tailor-made to early-stage needs: brand exposure, free mentoring sessions with senior professionals from diverse backgrounds/industries inviting investors and media to our local events, so involving all stakeholders. Giving prizes through our sponsors (products and/or services).
The series regulary finishes with a 2-day London but in 2021 we choose online event, because the unpredictability of covid regulation.
Final Event: Final 1:1 mentoring with our special experts and a second day Demo Day and investor meetings and exciting speakers.
All program elements aimed to give female founders access to improve their skills, build corporate connections and network with investors, plus gain brand exposure.
Application process and Program:
- Announcing local pitching events/dates
- Online application
- Shortlist selection (10-12 teams) by a panel of experts, inviting teams to the pitching event (if there are less than 10 teams per country/venue, the organizers reserve the right to move the competitors to the online "other countries" group and have them compete there. )
- Free mentoring sessions for shortlisted teams with senior professionals from diverse backgrounds
- Local pitching to a panel of jury, inviting local investors and media (public event, anyone welcome).
- Participating on the Final event for 1st place winners from each country, Final Pitching announcing "Best female-founded startup" 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, plus a second day with 1:1 investor meetings for all finalists (If the final event is not online the necessary travel costs are covered by WSC a prize for finalists)
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
- The pitching competition is not limited to any industries.
- One requirement is that the applicant must be a startup led by female CEO or female-founded/co-founded or Women's share 50% of ownership or the team members has to be women (50%<) an equal gender diversity representation (50%-50%) within the entrepreneurial team or must identify as women in a way that’s significant to them.
- Second requirement is that the startup should be at least at MVP phase or very close to launch, so something tangible to show.
- Our competition is not limited to any industries, however we might have specific sub-categories as part of the competition in collaboration with sponsors or big corporates.
Dates
Deadline: As soon as possible
Cost/funding for participants
What prizes do the winners get?
- Our aim is to provide valuable, necessary devices, useful gadgets and services for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd team which can help them in their everyday lives and growing.
- In the previous years, the prizes were: a Macbook Air, an Apple iPad, a Chinese investor program, European coworking passes, Timeular time trackers, etc.
- Besides these, one other startup receives the so called Crowdfunding prize which is collected by donations.
- Last but not least, all our winners and the majority of our finalists received investment after the Demo Day.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
