Ho Chi Minh City, October 30th 2019 – 8 best female startups joined a Demo Day and Investor Pitching Event – the final round of the WISE Women Accelerator 2019 and pitched to a panel of prestigious investors who are from Vintech City, ESP, ADB Ventures, NextTech – Next 100, 500 Startups, Valhalla – Canada. As the final result, Smilee was the winning startup, receiving a prize of USD 10,000.
With the goal of inspiring, supporting and promoting female founders to start their businesses and grow successfully, WISE Women Accelerator is the only startup acceleration program in Vietnam for women that are annually organized by WISE.
“Despite facing more challenges in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship than men, female startups have a lot of potential and are making impressive development, especially when they receive the right support. An example is the WISE Accelerator 2018 finalists with outstanding achievements such as successfully raising $ 2.5 million; revenue growth of over 100% / year; many startups won internal and international outstanding start-up awards, expanding their business networks to regional and international markets. In particular, Abivin, the champion of the program last year, won the Startup World Cup with a prize of $ 1 million.
The WISE Accelerator 2019 was officially launched in March this year, focusing on technology based female-led startups in Vietnam. The best 9 teams were selected to receive intensive support before officially entering the final round.
Support from the WISE program for the finalists includes: business model review; workshops on building new e-commerce platforms, bootcamp with intensive training on business model development, branding, marketing and communication, pitch and presentation skills, finance and investment, business evaluation, etc.
Attending the event as a jury member, Ms. Le Hoang Uyen Vy, Director of ESP Investment Fund, shared, “I appreciate the WISE Accelerator which dedicates to women. Although technology is an area where the participation of female founders is still limited, WISE Accelerator 2019 female founders have come up with business models that use unique and interesting technologies. These are also great opportunities for investors and ventures funds, like ESP, to look for potential startups. We look forward to investing and supporting more in female startups.
“A startup accelerator program just for women is really a great opportunity for female founders like me. I appreciate the professionalism, the quality of the startup mentors and the network of experts that WISE has helped to connect. I am particularly impressed that the program has designed support activities that fit the specific needs, potentials and strengths of female founders, and created a community of female founders to exchange knowledge, sharing and learn from each other”- said Ms. Le Thi Thanh Nhan, Founder and CEO of Alium, one of 8 startup graduates from the program.
8 female startups pitched at WISE Women Accelerator 2019 were Alium, Fresh Deli, Foodhub, Okiva, Tubudd, Tam An, Smilee and Wowmua.
WISE Women Accelerator 2019 is organized with the support of the Australian Government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Swiss EP, Canada Embassy in Vietnam, and the Saigon Innovation Hub. The program received support from WISE’s partners, organizations that support women economic empowerment.
For further information of the event, click here!
For further information of the WISE Women Accelerator 2019, click: http://acceleration.wisevietnam.org/
