Women Entrepreneur Quest

About the Contest

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing presents the Women Entrepreneur Quest. The contest is designed to promote and showcase early-stage technology ventures founded or led by women entrepreneurs in all technologies.

We are looking for talented technical women who are on the founding or leadership team of early stage startups, and who have applied technology in innovative ways to solve meaningful business problems. If this applies to you, you can apply here electronically.

About GHC-India 2011

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology to increase the recruitment, retention, and advancement of Indian technical women. Modeled after the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in the United States and tailored by Indian technical women for the Indian technology culture, the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing India brings the research and career interests of women in computing in India to the forefront. Our 2010 pilot program drew over 600 attendees from 79 organizations for two days of learning, networking, and inspiration.

Eligibility Criteria

As least one woman in the founding / leadership team
Business needs to have a technology component preferably in various domains like internet, mobile, healthcare, clean tech etc.
In business for less than 3 years as of Dec 15th 2011
Must be an operating & registered entity – either a proprietary firm, Partnership firm, LLP or Pvt Ltd
Business must be registered in India
Should be a Private Independent Entity (should not be a subsidiary of a large firm)

Process

The application deadline has been extended to November 6, 2011.

Our selection committee will filter the top eight startups from all the business plans we receive. They will be evaluated on several criteria including customer need being addressed, competitive business models and effective and innovative use of technology.

The eight finalists* will be mentored closely by Saarthi, to shape their pitches for the final Showcase event. The final pitches will be made personally at the GHC-India conference in Bangalore in front of a distinguished judge panel. The panel will comprise a mix of VCs, entrepreneurs and mentors. Showcase & Award Presentation will be held on Dec 16, 2011

Prizes

The winner will walk away with a whopping cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs!

Evoma will provide 6 months of office space free to the winner.

Saarthi will extend 3 months complimentary mentoring to the 8 finalists* chosen to compete in the final presentations.

Five hours of legal consulting time courtesy of Novojuris for the 8 finalists.

Every eligible submission gets one free entry to the GHC Conference.

More information on prizes will be coming soon!

* Subject to review/change based on quality of submissions

Rules

The GHC-India committee reserves the right to ask for proof for critical information furnished by the contestants with reference to their business plans
Any misrepresentation of facts will lead to automatic disqualification
The decision of the selection committee will be final
Rules can be changed without prior notice

Still have questions? Email us!

FAQ’s

Will travel and accomodation be provided to the finalists to attend the event?

Travel/accommodation will not be paid for out of station submissions

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