Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

She Loves Tech: The World’s Largest Competition for Women in Tech Returns to Sri Lanka

She Loves Tech Sri Lanka Hatch

The journey of a female founder is one full of adversity. She constantly faces challenges in conducting business, more from society, and thrives by overcoming them. Aiding the growth of women and technology is crucial for the continued growth of technology in a way that meets the needs of society. She Loves Tech offers an opportunity for women-led and women-impact startups, empowering them to break barriers and thrive. It’s the world’s largest startup competition for women in technology held across 6 continents. Female entrepreneurs are offered guidance through mentorships and exposure to the global ecosystem of women in tech it has created. Organized by Hatch, applications for She Loves Tech Sri Lanka are now open until the 21st of August 2022. Here’s more about the world’s largest competition for women in tech. 

Empowering female entrepreneurs

Recognizing the many struggles faced by female entrepreneurs, the Co-Founders of She Loves Tech, Virginia Tan, Rhea See, and Leanne Robers, began their work towards creating a global ecosystem for women in the tech industry through their annual competition. On a global scale, She Loves Tech has plans to facilitate greater visibility, funding opportunities, and community among women in the tech industry through this ecosystem. In addition, it’s committed to closing the gender gap in startup funding and catalyzing USD 1 Billion in funding for women by 2030.

Since 2015, She Loves Tech has already raised USD 300+ million and assisted 8000+ startups across 70+ countries with 1+ billion media impressions. Each year the best women-led and women-impact startups are championed and provided with mentorship, education, and strategic partnerships, as well as a stage to continue growing and scaling their business. 

The startups that go through She Loves Tech also have the chance to showcase themselves to a global audience of top investors and leaders in the industry. Last year, 8 finalists were chosen from the 60+ applicants. These finalists were provided many learning opportunities in personal agility, product marketing in tech, strategy, and business development. Industry experts also conducted pitch coaching sessions to prepare them for the final round.

She Loves Tech Sri Lanka – Organized by Hatch

She Loves Tech | Sri Lanka | Hatch

Hatch has been a center for all things startups since its inception. It has been a key player in empowering female entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka through numerous initiatives. The Kickass business development boot camps, which found high success with female founders despite being held amid the pandemic, are one of these initiatives. 

Once again, Hatch has partnered with She Loves Tech as one of the main organizers to host the competition in Sri Lanka to drive representation within the tech industry. This year, it’s partnered with Teja Ventures as the official venture partner, ADB Ventures as the official impact partner, Potato Productions as the Global Strategic Partner, and Patamar Capital and Arteculate as the community partners.

Walking through the She Loves Tech competition process

She Loves Tech | Sri Lanka | Hatch

The She Loves Tech competition was created to enhance and empower startups throughout all its stages. With a total of four stages held over the course of four months; screening and preparation, local rounds, boot camp, and global finals. 

Applications for the She Loves Tech competition are open until 21st August 2022. Applications will be evaluated by the global screening team to ensure that each applicant fits the necessary criteria. The final shortlisted startups will receive access to exclusive pitch preparation curriculum and mentorship sessions to provide guidance and help startups prepare for the next round. 

Participating startups will then face the second round of the competition, the local round held from September through October. In this stage, shortlisted startups will showcase their businesses. The winner, runner-up, and second runners-up of the local competition in Sri Lanka will each receive a cash prize of LKR 125,000, LKR 75,000, and LKR 35,000 in order.

The winners of each national competition across the different countries She Loves Tech is active in will then move into the global finals held in November. The global round is the final round of the competition. Here the winning startups from across the globe will compete with each other. The final round will take place during the She Loves Tech Global Conference. This final round will also serve the purpose of an investor demo day where startups can pitch their products and services directly to investors for funding. Startups in this stage have the opportunity to win up to USD 50,000 in startup funding and cash prizes.

Applications for She Loves Tech are now open

She Loves Tech | Sri Lanka | Hatch
The finalists of She Loves Tech Sri Lanka 2021

The She Loves Tech competition is open to women-led or women-impact startups that fall into 2 categories. The first is that the business in question is an early-stage startup seeking seed, angel, or A round funding and has raised under USD 5 million. The startup also must have a minimum viable product (MVP). The second category is the gender lens, where the startup applying must either be women-led or have an impact on women. Startups in this category should have a majority female customer base or technology that impacts women positively. If you’re a female founder whose business fits the above criteria, visit  https://apply.shelovestech.org to send your application.

By Arteculate

Arteculate is your guide to the Asian tech industry. We give you unparalleled insights, accurate, local tech news, thoughtful features and sometimes scathing opinions on where things are headed. Stay tuned for the best of Asia!

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