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Female Founder Challenge 2024

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VivaTech accelerates innovation by connecting startups, tech leaders, major companies, and investors responding to our world’s biggest challenges.
Each year, over four exciting days in Paris, VivaTech creates Europe’s biggest technology and startup event, exploring the most disruptive topics in tech with world-premiere demos, launches, and conferences in a collaborative ecosystem. This is where business meets innovation.

Join us for the eighth edition of VivaTech 22-25 May 2024, at Expo Porte de Versailles.
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The Female Founder Challenge, organized by VivaTech, champions leading startups and breakthrough innovation built by women.

Our main objective is to empower women entrepreneurs by facilitating networking opportunities and access to funding through experience-sharing and connecting them with venture capitalists.


  • impact builders logo

    OUR GOAL


    To celebrate the women who are leading startups, who are developing the latest disruptive innovation, and who are dreaming up the society-changing technology that will shape our future. Our long-term goal is to increase the representation of women at all levels in the tech sector, improve access to key positions for women, and highlight the added value that female-led and diverse teams can bring to innovation. And we are drawing attention to the persistent under-representation of women in tech :


    • Only 2% of global VC funding went to all-female founding teams vs 15% mixed-gender founding teams in 2022
    94% of female fundraisings were below €15M vs €215M for men in 2022


    Don’t miss your chance!

Selection criteria

  • Innovation
    Level of relevance, originality and innovation demonstrated by the tech solution
  • Scalability
    Feasibility, practicality and viability (technical, economic and environmental) of implementing the solution
  • Team
    Profile of the female founder(s) and co-founder(s), ability to lead the project to success, hard and soft skills of the operational team
  • Business
    Your business model demonstrated traction and product/market fit

Rewards


  • All the Candidates


    • Access to a free investment readiness bootcamp (online)

  • The Top 30 Female Founders


    • One 4-days pass to attend the 2024 edition of VivaTech
    • One invitation to the Female Founders cocktail at VivaNight

  • The 5 finalists


    • Pitch your solution in front of a jury of Top decision makers and investors
    • One-to-one meetings booked with VCs during Office Hours
    • Visibility on the digital platform of VivaTech 2024
    • Two 4-days pass to attend the 2024 edition of VivaTech

  • The Grand Prize Winner


    • Fundraising coaching by IRIS (from pitch deck revamp to intros to VCs)
    • High visibility on VivaTech
    • A private meeting with the high-level jury
    • A Startup Corner at the 2025 edition of VivaTech
    • A 3-month business development mentoring program with Mazars XFactory

Our Timeline

  • 1

    8 January

    Launch of the
    Challenge
     

  • 2

    3 March

    End of the
    applications
     

  • 3

    4 April

    Official announcement
    of the Top 30

  • 4

    in April

    Online Bootcamp on
    investment readiness
     

  • 5

    23 April

    Official release of
    the 5 finalists
     

  • 6

    22 - 25 May

    VivaTech
    Paris
     

  • 7

    23 May

    (TBC)
    Official
    Ceremony

2024 Winner

  • Albane Dersy - Inbolt


    Albane, the co-founder and COO of Inbolt, brings to the table a diverse and extensive background, graduating from HEC Paris and Polytechnique. Her professional journey encompasses strategy consulting, mergers, and acquisitions within specialized industry teams, granting her a deep understanding of the field. In addition to her leadership responsibilities at Inbolt, she actively advocates for gender equality initiatives within the tech industry.

    Albane founded Inbolt in 2018. Through the introduction of the GuideNOW system, Inbolt equips industrial robots with the capability to elevate their intelligence through real-time adaptive guidance based on AI and 3D vision technology.

2024 Finalists

  • Daria StepanovaCo-founder & CEOAIRMO
  • Pamela PardiniCo-founder & CEOBIONIRS
  • Alyssa EmmungilCo-founder & CEOHappyPal
  • Albane DersyCo-founder & COOinbolt
  • Flore LestradeCo-founder & CEOVeeton

Top 30 Female Founders 2024

Jury Members 2024

  • Nmachi JidenmaPartnerGeneral Catalyst
  • Florence SardasMember of the Mazars French executive board and founder of the XFactory acceleratorMazars
  • Julien-David NitlechManaging PartnerIRIS
  • Isabelle MariDirector, strategic projectsJCDecaux
  • Tatiana JamaFounder & Managing PartnerSistaFund
  • Caroline RamadeFounder & CEO 50inTech
  • Magnus KarnehmPrincipalLeft Lane Capital

2024 Partners



ORGANIZER

logo vivatechnology



SPONSORS

logo mazars          logo jc decaux



KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

logo iris          logo mazars



MEDIA PARTNER