- Qualcomm Ventures is hosting its first pitch event featuring female founders called the Female Founders Summit
- The winner of the pitch competition will win a $500,000 investment capital prize and gain access to a network of mentors and potential future investors
Qualcomm Ventures is hosting a pitch event for ten early-stage startups with female founders featuring a $500,000 investment capital prize on July 10, 2019, in San Francisco. The event is called the Female Founders Summit. Qualcomm Ventures global head and senior vice president at Qualcomm Quinn Li pointed out that this event will give founders the potential to also gain access to a network of mentors and potential future investors.
“There’s a need to have more startups with female founders,” said Li via Business Insider. “We’re trying to recognize there’s a lot of good companies with female founders, and we can help the companies get access to capital as well as a network of partners and investors to really help these companies get their business going.”
The startups that will be featured at the competition include ones that are focused on artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Qualcomm Ventures has been heavily investing in AI-based startups this past year. In November, Qualcomm had announced it set up a $100 million fund for investing in AI startups specifically.
Some of the startups that are participating at the Female Founders Summit include AON Devices, AR Wall, BlinkAi, Blue Canoe Learning, Embodied Labs, Lab4U, Lily AI, On Second Thought, Raybaby, and Wavelength Global.
Startups that do not win the competition will still gain access to other investors at the event who might be interested in their ideas. Even though Qualcomm Ventures hosted pitch competitions in the past, this is the first time that it is focused on female founders.
“We are interested in trying to make positive progress to recognize the challenges the tech industry as a whole faces and do our part to promote and recognize these startups with female founders,” Li added.
