As part of its different actions to support women in tech, VivaTechnology and 50inTech are launching the fifth edition of the Female Founder Challenge. 

The final ceremony will take place at the Viva Technology Paris event, which will be held from June 14 to June 17, 2023 physically in Paris, (the "Event") to launch the Female Founder Challenge. Candidate applications will be reviewed and assessed by a panel of experts on the basis of qualitative criteria as set out in the present document.

No registration fees are required to participate, nor are Candidates (as such term is defined hereafter) supposed to acquire or use any item whatsoever. However, the cost of the internet connection required to register for the Challenge remains the responsibility of the Candidates.

MSL France, a joint-stock company with capital of 182,400 Euros, having its registered office at 30-34 rue du Chemin Vert, 75011 Paris, registered in Paris Trade and Companies Register with number 347 895 096 RCS Paris, acting as manager of the partnership formed between MSL France and Les Echos Solutions, a company having its registered office 10, boulevard de Grenelle 75015 PARIS registered in Paris Trade and companies Register with number 408 165 157, (hereinafter “Viva Technology”) organizes between 31/01/23 and 17/06/23 included a Challenge entitled “Female Founder Challenge” (hereinafter the “Challenge”).

Participation in the Challenge implies the express and unreserved acceptance of these Challenge rules.

 

2. PARTICIPANTS

The Female Founder Challenge is open to all female founders, co-founders, CEOs or Co-CEOs of a startup in the Tech sector wishing to raise funds. This fifth edition of the Challenge also remains open to all candidates from previous editions, with the exception of the winner of the 2020, 2021, 2022 Challenges.

The candidate must be a natural person (and not a legal entity) over the age of 18 who has participated in the incorporation of and/or is the legal representative of the company.

The application must be written in English. It does not require the candidate to provide proof of residence or nationality. The candidate startup does not need to be limited to a specific topic, industry or technological solution. Any female founder, regardless of her company or location, can participate in the Challenge as long as she provides all of the necessary information so that the jury may correctly evaluate the application (see selection criteria).

 By participating in the Challenge, the candidate will be expected to attend the online Bootcamp, the Investors' Office Hours, the Afterwork, the Pitch contest and the Award ceremony (which will take place between June 14 and June 17 at VivaTech, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, 1 Place de la Porte de Versailles, F-75015 Paris, France) if she is selected amongst the 6 Finalists. If the candidate is unable to attend one of the meetings for unforeseen reasons or any other type of reason, she must inform VivaTech as soon as possible, and before May 16 at the very latest, the Candidate will then be disqualified from the Final and the next Candidate in the ranking will be selected for the Final.

By registering and taking part in the Challenge, the candidate accepts the terms and conditions of its participation listed above and is agreeing to respect them. VivaTech reserves the right to declare incomplete, false, or non-compliant entries invalid.

 

3. PARTICIPATION IN THE CHALLENGE

The legal representative or the female candidate of the startup shall:

• Connect to the platform Agorize between January 31, 2023 at 17:30 Hour CET and March 12, 2023 at 23:55 Hour CET;
• Register the Startup by following the instructions;
• Download and fill in the required information;
• Download any other relevant document to enhance the project.

The key dates of the challenge:

• April 27, 2023: Official Announcement of the Top 30
• May 16, 2023: Online Bootcamp and official release of the 6 finalists
• June 14-17, 2023: VivaTech Event: 1. Pitch and Award Ceremony 2. Office Hours 3. Women Afterwork

6 selected startups will have to present their project in front of the jury members and the public present at a date to be confirmed between June 14 and June 17 to Viva Technology, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, 75015 Paris. The exact day and time will be communicated later to the selected Startups.

The pitch format details will be sent to the finalists later before the ceremony.

4. DETERMINATION OF THE WINNER

4.1. Jury Members

The jury will be composed of 5 to 10 international VCs, Top entrepreneurs, and ecosystem key players.

4.2. Selection Process

The Top 30 Selection:

Once the challenge is closed, the knowledge partner will be in charge of screening all the applications and select 30 startups following the selection criteria below:

1. Founder expertise and experience
2. Innovation of the product / solution
3. Leadership
4. Scaling Potential
5. Impact of the solution

 

All the Candidates:

• Access to a free online bootcamp on fundraising 

Top 30:

• Invitation to the cocktail side event in Paris
• 1 4-days pass to Viva Technology Event 2023

6 finalists:

• Pitch your solution in front of a jury of top VCs and investors during the Event
• 1:1 appointments with VC during Office Hours
• Introduction to C-Levels of VivaTech’s partners
• Visibility on the digital platform of VivaTech 2023 during the event
• 2  4-days pass to Viva Technology Event 2023

Winner- Female Founder 2023:

• Visibility on Viva Technology Event
• A private meeting with the FFC’s high-level VC jury
• Mentoring sessions on fundraising
• A startup booth at VivaTech 2024

Are not included:

• Personal expenses of the startup team
• Transportation and accommodation of the startup team
• Insurance
• And more generally, any service not specifically described above.

The Prizes will be awarded to the winner at the end of the Challenge, at a date to be confirmed between June 14 and June 17, 2023.

The presence of the winning founder of the startup is obligatory when each prize is delivered. In case of absence of the winner for said prize, the project immediately after in the ranking will be declared a winner and the team absent shall see its startup disqualified from the Challenge.

Viva Technology reserves the right to replace the prizes with prizes of close features and equivalent or higher value if circumstances so require.

 

6. RESPONSIBILITY OF VIVA TECHNOLOGY

Viva technology cannot be held responsible for a problem of communication, network connection, computers or faulty connection. Viva Technology cannot be held responsible for the malfunction of the site for a given browser.

Viva Technology is not responsible for any malfunction of the platform Agorize or any late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, undeliverable, or destroyed applications due to system errors, failed, incomplete or garbled computer or other telecommunication transmission malfunctions, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or technical malfunction(s), which may limit a Candidate's ability to participate.

In no event will Viva Technology be held responsible for a loss of data or a deterioration of this data. Viva Technology cannot be held responsible if the data relating to the registration of a team for a project did not reach it for any reason or it could be illegible or impossible to process (for example, if the Candidate has computer hardware or an inadequate software environment for registration or an Internet connection problem).

Viva Technology shall not be held responsible if, for any reason (including computer fraud, virus, fire, flood, strike, force majeure, pandemic such as COVID-19 or any other reason) this challenge has to be shortened, modified, postponed or cancelled. In fact, Viva Technology reserves the right to shorten, modify or cancel this challenge if the circumstances so require, without repair of any damage to the Candidates nor reimburse any expense incurred by them. Any amendment to these rules may be the subject of information to the Candidates.

Any false statement or data automatically results in the disqualification of the startup. The proven fraud or attempted cheating of a Candidate may be sanctioned by Viva Technology without notice. 

 

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Startups participating in the Challenge allow Viva Technology to:

• Use the logo, brand and other distinctive features of their startup for the duration of the Event (ie Viva technology) and for any promotional campaign organized by Viva Technology (before the Event) and for three (3) years from the end of the Event. In particular, they allow Viva Technology to reproduce and represent the logo, brand and other distinctive features of their project on all supports, whatever the media (notably print, internet, audio-visual), used to promote the Event. 
• Reproduce and represent their image and other elements of their person (name, voice) and/or words recorded on one or more photographs and/or multimedia or video storage media, within the framework of Viva Technology and intended to be used for, during the Event and after in order to present and promote the Event. This authorization entitles Viva Technology to apply such additions, deletions, modifications or dubbing to the original recording of images and/or words as Viva Technology deems useful, provided that they are in keeping with the spirit of the camerawork, and,
• Use the above mentioned image or abovementioned audio-video recordings, on a non- exclusive basis, in whole or in part, on any present or future storage media (paper, graphic, video, photographic, digital, electronic, etc.) for purposes of promoting Viva Technology particularly for publication via any mode of transmission whatsoever in the press or audiovisual media (all channels combined, including terrestrial, satellite, cable, etc.), on television, in press kits, in publishing, in educational or commercial documents (catalogues, brochures, posters, point-of-sale advertising) disseminated at the initiative of Viva Technology, on the Internet and particularly on the websites published by Viva Technology, on Viva Technology social networks and/or on ECHOS SOLUTIONS and PUBLICIS GROUP social networks and on any interactive websites particularly in trade fairs, conferences and exhibitions.

8.1 Principle

Participation in the challenge requires the submission of personal data relating, in particular, to the identity of the Candidates (including names, mailing and correspondence addresses, phone numbers, photos, CVs, etc.). Personal data will be processed in compliance with the French Act on Data Protection n°78-12, as modified.

The Candidate retains the right, at all times:

• to object to the collection of personal data;
• to access, review or rectify any personal data collected in connection with the Challenge by accessing its personal space on www.agorize.com ;
• to receive his personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to another controller, and to delete any personal data collected in connection with the Challenge by sending a request to startups@vivatechnology.com

Unless marked as optional, if the Candidate disagrees to provide or asks for the deletion of the personal data, this may result in the non-registration at the Challenge.

Data relating to unsuccessful Candidates will be deleted two years after the 2023 Event. Data relating to the Selected Candidates will be retained for the whole duration of the business relationship between the Sponsor and the Candidate.

8.2 Purpose and recipients

The collection and processing of such personal data will be transferred to our co-organizer 50inTech and our knowledge partners and used for the purposes of the Selection and the Challenge including:

• to verify that the Candidate eligible to be selected to participate in the Challenge she applied for and complies with the Challenge Rules; and
• to communicate with the Candidate for the purpose of his/her participation in the Challenge.

The recipients of the data are specifically designated employees of MSL France, Agorize  being a subcontractor of MSL France for the purpose of the collection of such data in the context of the Selection.

Their personal data will also be transferred to jury members in order to select the 6 finalists and the winner. 

 

9. APPLICABLES LAWS, SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND ILLEGALITY

9.1 Governing law

These Challenge rules shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with French law.

9.2 Settlement of disputes

In the Event of a dispute arising out of or in connection with these User Rules (a "Dispute"), the parties shall first seek amicable settlement of that Dispute. Either party may commence amicable settlement by sending to the other party a written request f, setting forth the subject of the Dispute and the relief requested (the "Notice").

If within 14 days following the date of the Notice the parties fail to agree on a neutral third person to act as a mediator (the "Mediator") or a Mediator has not been appointed for any other reason, the Mediator shall be appointed by the ICC International Centre for ADR in accordance with the Rules for the Appointment of Experts and Neutrals of the International Chamber of Commerce. The place of mediation shall be Paris, France. The language of the mediation shall be English.

If the Dispute has not been amicably settled within 60 days following the date of the Notice or within such other period as the parties may agree in writing, either party may initiate proceedings before the French courts which shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear the Dispute.

Any Notice or correspondence in relation to a Dispute should be addressed to: startups@vivatechnology.com .

9.3 Contact details

Any correspondence with Agorize with respect to the functioning of the platform and data collection should be addressed to startups@vivatechnology.com .