Jetzt Bewerben: Female Founders Contest

Willkommen beim Female Founders Contest 2026, welcome to the Female Founders Contest 2026!

Alle weiteren Schritte rund um die Bewerbung sind in Englisch gehalten. Reicht eure Bewerbung gerne trotzdem in Deutsch oder Englisch ein.

Welcome to the application process of the Semi-Final Nordrhein-Westfalen for the Female Founders Contest 2026. On the next pages you’ll be guided through the application process.

If you already have a company profile on Dealum, it will take only a few clicks to share your application data.

If you are new to Dealum, you will be asked for some information about your business. Provided information can be used for all the future applications on Dealum, as well.

Please have the following documents ready before starting the application process:
• Your Pitchdeck as PDF File
• Basic company information
• A cap Table in csv or xlsx format

Please also make shure the following criteria apply to your startup:
• Your company is officially registered with your headquarters located in Nordrhein-Westfalen
• You have at least one operational female co-founder in the team with min. 10% genuine shares in the company (no ESOP/VSOP)
• One female co-founder is available to pitch at the semi-final
• Your company is a Startup: It is scalable, innovative & exit-driven
• Traction: >0€ genuine customer revenue (for DeepTech startups >0€ in grants or public funding raised is also sufficient)

The deadline for applications is 24.04.2026. You will be able to revise and edit your application via the platform until then. Our jury will decide on the finalists the week after. We will contact you as soon as the decision is made.

Unattached to the jury decision, you can already get tickets to all semi-final events and the Finals on Sept 10th in Potsdam. Check our website https://femalefounderscontest.de/de for further details.

Please make sure that you are able to attend the semi-final in person at KPMG in Köln on 13.05.2026.

Pitching is possible in German and English!

If any problems occur during the application process or if you have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us via katharina@shegrowsacademy.de.

Good luck with your application!

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