“Without women, we are unable to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Women represent a new generation of innovation and disruptive thinking,” said Co-Founder of She Loves Tech, Virginia Tan. She Loves Tech is the world’s largest startup competition for women and technology. The competition, together with its conference, has continuously expanded its reach into 30+ countries. Now in its 6th year – despite the global pandemic – the competition has expanded its reach and is now in Sri Lanka in partnership with Hatch.
The initiative works to create a global ecosystem for women in technology and champions the best entrepreneurs through education & mentorship. The ‘She Loves Tech’ competition serves as an international platform for accelerating women-lead or women-impact startups, allowing them to grow and scale their business while showcasing it to a global audience of top investors and influencers in the tech industry. With Hatch joining the ranks of its international organizing partners, the initiative in Sri Lanka aims to empower local female entrepreneurs.
Sharing her experience, Co-Founder & CTO of Resync, Jayantika Soni (The local winner from Singapore of the She Loves Tech 2019 Global Startup Competition) described the initiative saying, “She Loves Tech was one of the best experiences for me. I was surrounded by the most powerful women in their field, building startups against all odds.”
How Hatch has been empowering women founders
Since its official launch a year ago, Hatch has developed an established track record of supporting startups. Notably, this includes initiatives focused on startups led by women founders. The most recent of these being the Kickass business development boot camps. Launched in March 2020, at the height of Sri Lanka’s coronavirus lockdown, the programme supported 13 female founders.
Led by global business and digital marketing strategist, Naomi Gunnels, the Kickass Boot Camps offers female founders with mentorship, knowledge, and practical advice to grow and scale their businesses. Reflecting upon their success with the workshops, Co-Founder and Director at Hatch, Brindha Selvadurai, highlighted the resilience of women founders in the programme, stating, “Despite the challenges posed by the lockdown, the founders have been keen to learn pitching, marketing, finance, negotiation, and other skills how to scale their business through the programme.”
The opportunities for growth with She Loves Tech
Now as an international organizing partner of She Loves Tech, Hatch is further committed to empowering female founders. The winners of the competition will receive an equity-free cash prize of $15,000 alongside special media and mentorship prizes, fast track access to partner funds and accelerator programmes of She Loves Tech programme.
Past finalists have gone onto receiving funding from Microsoft, Amazon, Sequoia Capital, Vertex Ventures, and Wavemaker. In aggregate, She Loves Tech alumni have gone on to raise over $100,000,000 in funding. Ultimately, “Empowering women in technology will change the way we live and work, and our competition is one of the best ways to springboard that change,” says Co-founder of She Loves Tech, Leanne Robers.
This year the ‘She Loves Tech’ competition will take place virtually across 30+ countries. Registrations are now open and the deadline to submit applications for She Loves Tech Sri Lanka 2020 is on the 20th of August 2020. If you have an early-stage startup that’s either women-led or women-impacting, with an MVP, and has raised less than $5 million, then click here to apply now for the chance to take your business to the next level with She Loves Tech.