Female Founder Challenge 2024

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.

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.

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 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

DOWNLOAD RULES

Let’s go back to the 2023 edition

Winner 2023

2023 Finalists

Caroline SpanWELCOME PLACE
Léa GilletTRACE FOR GOOD
Sandra ToblerFUTURAE TECHNOLOGIES AGT
Simisola SobowaleINSTANT ENERGY
Valeria KoganFERMATA
Zuzanna StamirowskaPATHWAY

Let’s discover the Top 30 2023

Watch The Replay of The 2023 Ceremony !

2024 Partners

ORGANIZER