Amazon To Help Female Startup Founders Access Funding
Amazon Web Services, Inc. has announced it will host a pitching event for female founders to raise capital for their business.
The firm said its AWS Women’s Demo Week would be a week-long global event focused on helping women-led startups connects with investors. The pitching events will be held in 18 cities, including Lagos, across the globe from November 6 to 10, 2023.
“The women founders will be invited to pitch their startups in front of a live audience of potential investors, partners, and customers, as well as other key stakeholders in the startup ecosystem,” AWS hinted.
In a statement, the Global Head of Specialised Startup Segments at AWS, Kathryn Van Nuys, said, “With a tighter capital market, women-led startups have faced a significant decline in venture funding. We want to ignite a movement to showcase the grit and ingenuity of these founders and help them get in front of investors during AWS Women’s Demo Week.
“With the help of our network, we want to leverage our investor connections and resources to demonstrate that women-led startups are good businesses and should be taken seriously by all funders, not only those focused on supporting underrepresented groups.”
According to the firm, only 2.3 per cent of global VC funding went to women-only founded startups, with Black and Latino women receiving less than one per cent each in 2020.
The Founding Partner at Ajim Capital, a venture firm involved in the demo week, Eunice Ajim, noted, “AWS Women’s Demo Week is incredibly timely, as we are seeing the funding gap for women entrepreneurs widen in Africa.
“We are excited to highlight groundbreaking women founders from Africa in the global stage and support them in unlocking access to capital and connection with international investors.”
The firm highlighted that the event will be hosted in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Austin, Los Angeles, Bogota, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Santiago, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, and Madrid.
Apart from pitching their startups, the founders will also receive $10,000 in AWS Activate credits. They will also be connected to AWS technical experts and have access to the URF startup community.
Punch/ Chidimma Gold
