Applications are now open for the 2026 Aurora Tech Award, an international competition recognising and funding visionary women leading technology startups.
Organised by inDrive, the award offers a total prize pool of $85,000 and global exposure to innovative female entrepreneurs driving social impact.
The 2026 edition will run from August 12 to November 12, 2025, inviting women founders from across the world to showcase tech solutions that combine innovation with measurable change.
Since its inception in 2021, the Aurora Tech Award has become a drive for elevating underrepresented voices in technology. In 2025 alone, it received a record-breaking 2,018 applications from 116 countries, twice the number from the previous year, with African innovators winning the top prize for three consecutive years.
Nigeria’s Solape Akinpelu claimed the 2025 first prize, while finalists came from diverse fields including health tech, fintech, AI, edtech, and agrotech.
Head of the Aurora Tech Award, Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, spoke on its purpose, “The Aurora Tech Award is more than a prize – it’s a springboard for the next generation of bold women founders from emerging markets. We provide not just funding, but access to top investors, global networks, and the tools to help scale ventures that will shape the future of entire industries.”
Benefits
Female tech founders stand a chance to receive the following prices:
- Grand Prize: $50,000 for the winner.
- First Runner-Up: $20,000.
- Second Runner-Up: $15,000.
- Access to inDrive’s global expertise, curated mentorship programmes, and strategic networking opportunities.
- Direct exposure to investors and industry partners.
- Increased visibility and credibility on the global stage.
- Support in scaling, fundraising, and market expansion.
Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- The startup must be owned or co-owned by a woman.
- Must be less than 5 years old.
- Have a working prototype and be at the pre-seed stage.
- Total funding raised must not exceed $6 million.
How to Apply
Eligible candidates can apply online via the website before the deadline on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
Competition Timeline
- 8 December 2025: Announcement of the Top 100 quarter-finalists.
- Following weeks: Selection of the Top 30 semi-finalists.
- Early 2026: Announcement of the Top 3 finalists.
- February–March 2026: Tailored mentorship programme for finalists.
- March–April 2026: Aurora Tech Award ceremony.
Entries will be assessed by a panel of investors and industry experts, focusing on innovation, scalability, and social impact.
2025 winner Solape Akinpelu said, “Winning the Aurora Tech Award proved that African women founders can thrive on the global stage. The funding, mentorship, and exposure transformed my organisation’s growth. I urge South African women innovators to apply, your ideas deserve to be seen and celebrated.”
From Chile, finalist Loretxu Garcia noted that, “What inspired me was knowing there’s an award that recognises not just technology, but the courage to innovate from our own lived realities. Applying to Aurora was my way of saying: women are also shaping the future through science.”
Third-place winner Shreya Prakash of FlexiBees, India, added, “Very few women-centric programmes provide actual funding. As a woman founder, it was heartening to see that the Aurora Tech Award backed its belief in women entrepreneurs with the catalyst of capital.”
The award is a non-profit initiative of inDrive, a global mobility and urban services platform operating in 982 cities across 48 countries. Known for its peer-to-peer ride-hailing price negotiation model, inDrive is the world’s second-most downloaded ride-hailing app.
Through the Aurora Tech Award, inDrive aims to address the fact that less than 2% of global VC funding goes to women-led startups, shifting resources and recognition to founders building their own platforms rather than waiting for a seat at the table.
For more information, visit the website.
