UBS Female Founder Award 2024

Committed to supporting gender diversity in fintech and tech start-ups for the fourth year

Important dates

  • 20 Sep

    Global launch

  • 3 Oct

    Registrations open

  • 18 Oct

    Submission close 
    Evaluations start

  • 18 Nov

    Jury reviews top 10

  • 22 Nov

    Selections communicated to founders

  • 6 Dec

    Jury selects the winner

  • 13 Dec

    Award ceremony 

 

What's in it for you

Rewards

A cash prize of USD 10,000 will be awarded to the winner and a 'rising star of 2024' will be recognised. All finalists will be given the opportunity to join Project Female Founder 2024, a year-long, global investor readiness, networking and mentorship program, that arms early-stage female founders with fundamentals to support their access to aligned capital. With partners Fortuna, Coralus, and Live True, the program consists of an investor readiness and pitch program, followed by access to the Coralus network to help build an ecosystem of support. Finalists will receive mentoring from UBS advisers, access to experienced entrepreneurs, venture capital firms and others in a global community, allowing you to build your regional and international contacts.

Cash prize

The winner will receive USD 10,000 to support their founder journey. A special award will also go to the 'Rising Star of 2024'.

Mentoring

Receive mentorship from a UBS senior leader and access to female-focused VCs and investors. Companies above USD 50 million can connect with Growth Entrepreneur Network.

Project Female Founder

Join Project Female Founder, a year-long program for investor readiness and networking. Access to global Coralus network of female entrepreneurs to connect and share your best practices.

Global profile

Access speaker and publicity opportunities to gain recognition. Build your global profile through this prestigious award, either as a winner or finalist.

Jury

The following individuals will lead the selection process and decide on the winner of Female Founder 2024 based on the following categories: diversity, financial track record, growth potential and leadership. 

Alice Page - UBS

Chief of Staff to the President Global Wealth Management

Mark Andersen – UBS

Co-Head CIO Global Asset Allocation

Bogdan Gogu – UBS

Principal Investments

Martin Grinberg

CEO, Digital Smart Group & Vanguard Software Factory 

Location: Spain

Martin is a tech entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience. He has founded multiple companies and mentors aspiring entrepreneurs, focusing on business transformation, digital innovation, and networking.

Jonathan Paul

CEO, Digital Smart Group & Vanguard Software Factory 

Location: Spain

Martin is a tech entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience. He has founded multiple companies and mentors aspiring entrepreneurs, focusing on business transformation, digital innovation, and networking.

Chaitanya Hiremath

CEO, Healthpoint Ventures

Location: USA

Chaitanya Hiremath is a seasoned entrepreneur with a strong focus on innovation and technology. He has led successful ventures across various industries, earning recognition from Forbes 30 Under 30 and Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 25 People in Tech for his contributions to AI-driven solutions and business leadership

Mor Assia

Founding Partner and Co-CEO of iAngels, and General Partner of iAngels Ventures.

An Israeli high-tech insider, Mor co-leads iAngels, a firm she co-founded and scaled from an investment platform to an investment house. As a GP, Mor is a voting member of the investment committee, leads deal sourcing and due-diligence, while managing the firm’s multi-strat portfolio.

Mor’s tech and corporate strategy background with SAP, IBM and Amdocs, coupled with her experience in the IDF’s elite intelligence unit, 8200, has proven invaluable in assessing new technologies and foreseeing the evolution of frontier technologies. As a member of numerous boards of directors in the iAngels portfolio, both public and private companies, Mor is uniquely qualified to provide value to portfolio companies through her ability to deep dive with entrepreneurs into business strategy and R&D roadmaps.

Mor is a recognized investment expert in the areas of Fintech, AI and Automotive. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Technion Israel’s Institute of Technology

Hester Spiegel-van den Steenhoven

Founding and Managing Partner of Epic Angels

As an entrepreneur, investor and advisor, Hester knows what it takes to build and successfully scale a company. 

Hester is Founding and Managing Partner of Epic Angels, the largest all-female angel investor collective investing in women-led startups in Asia-Pacific. She is the author of Thinking Big and Small: a guide to activating your entrepreneurial mindset, in which she lays out the essential attributes of successful entrepreneurship. Through allocating time and capital, she creates access for more women to become change-makers.

Andrea Fritschi

Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer of Tenity

Partners

Tenity

Location: Middle East

Epic Angels

Location: Asia Pacific

Rules

By participating in the competition for the Award, applicants accept and agree to abide by these Official Rules and represent and warrant that they meet all eligibility requirements. Additionally, applicants agree to accept the selection decisions of UBS as appropriate, final, and legally binding.

Download a PDF copy of the Official Rules.

 

Why we care

In 2021, UBS published its report “The funding gap: Investors and female entrepreneurs’’, which examined the reasons behind why female entrepreneurs receive less funding than their male counterparts. It found that female entrepreneurs lack equal opportunities to innovate and build successful companies that can contribute to the global economy. There is an abundance of evidence to suggest that women entrepreneurs, who receive funding, develop businesses that perform as well – or even better – than their male counterparts, which suggests that investors are missing out on attractive investment opportunities.

Get the report here
 

Previous finalists

We're proud to level the playing field by helping women make the most of their money.

Ana Mahony, winner of the 2023 UBS Female Founder Award

Ana Mahony