Call for Applications: Female Founder Award 2026 – YOA

Deadline: February 2, 2026

Applications are open for the Female Founder Award 2026. The Female Founder Award celebrates ladies main modern startups which can be driving the disruptive applied sciences shaping the longer term.

While feminine-based firms nonetheless obtain solely 12% of enterprise funding, it’s time to assist ladies make their voices heard. The Female Founder Challenge was created 8 years in the past to empower ladies entrepreneurs by facilitating networking alternatives, elevating model consciousness, and offering entry to funding. The 5 finalists can be invited to pitch in June at VivaTech 2026.

Benefits

• For the Top 30 Female Founders: One VivaTech Startup Pass
• For the 5 finalists
  • Pitch your resolution in entrance of a jury of high resolution makers and traders
  • One-to-one conferences with VCs
  • Strong visibility throughout VivaTech’s communication channels
  • Two VivaTech Startup Passes
• For the Winner
  • Pitch your resolution throughout the VivaTech Global Awards Ceremony
  • Fundraising teaching by IRIS (from pitch deck revamp to intros to VCs)
  • Extensive visibility
  • A free Startup Corner at 2026 VivaTech
  • A 5-month enterprise growth mentoring program with Forvis Mazars XFactory

Eligibility

• Open to all feminine founders, co-founders, CEOs or Co-CEOs of a startup within the Tech sector wishing to lift funds. A startup refers to an unbiased firm with a tech product, fewer than 100 staff, and which was created lower than 8 years in the past.
• This eighth version of the Award additionally stays open to all candidates from earlier editions of the Female Founder Award, besides for the winners of the previous editions.
• The candidate have to be a pure individual (and never a authorized entity) over the age of 18 who has participated within the incorporation of and/or is the authorized consultant of the startup.

Selection Criteria

• Innovation: Level of relevance, originality and innovation demonstrated by the tech resolution
• Scalability & Viability: Ability of the answer to scale whereas remaining technically, economically and environmentally viable
• Team Profile: Profile of the feminine founder(s) and co-founder(s), potential to steer the mission to success, laborious and mushy abilities of the operational staff
• Business Model: Your enterprise mannequin demonstrated traction and product/market match
• Impact: Solutions that contribute to enhancing environmental and social influence

Application

Click here to apply

For extra info, go to Female Founder Award.