PARIS, 19 April 2022  - For the fourth year in a row, VivaTech, in partnership with 50inTech, launches the Female Founder Challenge sponsored by Salesforce and Société Générale with Expert Partner Avolta Partners with two main objectives:

• Facilitate VC-startup meetings to accelerate the financing of women-led startups all around the world
• Urge VC funds to commit to more gender equality at all levels

Hitting an all time low of VC funding to women founding teams

The current buzzword in Tech right now is gender diversity, but is it all talk? In 2021, we hit a five-year low of less than 2% of venture capital funding going to all-women founding teams in US. With only 14% of the new global unicorns were founded or co-founded by women and 1/26 women-led unicorns in France. 

Even though these trending topics have not yet fully translated to positive action, inequalities are even more pronounced when the founders are from diverse backgrounds. Despite this, the number of women entrepreneurs continues to grow. It is therefore up to the VC industry to act and the tech ecosystem to promote underrepresented female founders. 

Giving the stage to self-identifying women founders

"Given the figures mentioned above concerning gender gap in the tech sector, it is more than necessary to move the lines and to value female entrepreneurship. This is why we are renewing our commitment to 50inTech through this challenge, which has already supported many talented women by facilitating their access to funding." explains Julie Ranty, General Manager of Viva Technology. 

From an applicant group of over 69 countries with various sectors from Software development to Foodtech, 30 out of 504 applicants were selected. Among them, 5 finalists will be invited to come and pitch their project to a jury of investors at VivaTech.

Top 30 list:

Acerta Analytics Solutions Inc. - Greta Cutulenco - Canada - Mobility/Transportation

AISPOTTER OY - Anri Kivimäki - Finland - Media/Entertainment/Culture

AML Factory - Charlotte Gaudin - France - Software Development/Cloud services

Astrachain - Yosra Jarraya - France - Software Development/Cloud services

Beev - Chanez Djoudi - France -Mobility/Transportation

Billiv - Lena Crolot - France - Banking/Finance/Insurance

CLIPr - Cindy Chin - United States - Software Development/Cloud services

Deemea - Charlotte Pouchy - France - Health

Deep Planet - Sushma Shankar - United Kingdom - Food

Dukka - Keturah Ovio - Nigeria - Banking/Finance/Insurance

Frankli.io - Aldagh McDonogh - Ireland - HR/Training/Education

Genesis - Adrienne De Malleray - France - Food

Green-Got - Maud Caillaux - France - Banking/Finance/Insurance

GRID - Mariam Nusrat - United States -Telecom/Connectivity

iPaidThat - Rita Nazarian - France -Banking/Finance/Insurance

La Consigne GreenGo - Yasmine Dahmane - France - Food

MICA AI MEDICAL - Lilia Leye Shwartsman - Israel - Health

Nocturne GmbH - Ella Kadas - Germany - Health

Numbers - Sofia Yan - Taiwan - Information technologies

Omini - Joanne Kanaan - France - Health

Outmind - Grace Mehrabe - France - Software Development/Cloud services

PALM - Hela Atmani - France - Software Development/Cloud services

Resortecs - Vanessa Conaert - Belgium - Luxury/Fashion/Beauty

RespiQ - Mira Gleisberg - Netherlands - Health

Susu - Bola Bardet - France - Health

SwipeGuide - Willemijn Schneyder-Valbracht - Netherlands - Industry

Viewst - Victoria Duben - France - Marketing/Advertising/Communication

VyoO - Danae Blondel - Canada - Information technologies

Xlscout Ltd - Komal Talwar - Canada - Software Development/Cloud services

Yoona.ai - Anna Franziska - Germany - Software Development/Cloud services

“Among all the applications received we were impressed by the level of maturity of the companies, despite their recent creation, as well as by the geographical diversity. The health crisis has probably favored the meteoric growth of Healthtech/Ed Tech/Fintech startups... which is rather consistent with the needs that have been created.” explains Eve Baldini, COO Avolta Partners

Taking concrete actions

Every applicant to the challenge is invited to an exclusive Bootcamp centered around giving concrete fundraising best practices from expert investors and founders. On the agenda, Founder of Plan A Lubomila Jordanova who just raised $10 million in its series A funding round sharing her key learnings on how to conduct a roadshow. How to build a pitch deck with Nelly Lavielle, Partner at BGV and how to prepare for fundraising with Arthur Porré, Founding Partner at Avolta Partners. 

“We know that unconscious biases affect women entrepreneurs' fundraising. With this Bootcamp, we want to give them all the codes by industry leaders to be 100% ready but also examples of women entrepreneurs who have managed to overcome the bias to succeed” - Caroline Ramade, co-founder of  50inTech.

The top 5 finalists will be taking the stage live to pitch at VivaTech 22 in Paris, France. 

More information can be found here.