Terms & Conditions

1) PURPOSE

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

This challenge has two main objectives:

• Foster VC-startup meetings to accelerate the financing of women-led startups
• Urge VC funds to commit to more gender equality at all levels, especially financing

In 2020, 90% of the funds raised by startups went to 100% male founding teams. The situation has improved, however. According to a study by BCG, the SISTA association, and the National Digital Council, the average funding gap narrowed by 8% between male and female founding teams last year. To further narrow this gap and in order to finance more women's projects; VivaTech and 50inTech are joining forces to promote women-led startups and celebrate the ones that investors should consider.

The final ceremony will take place at the Viva Technology Paris event, which will be held from June 15 to June 18, 2022 physically in Paris, if the health context relating to Covid-19 enables it (the "Event") to launch the third edition of 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.

 

2) ORGANIZER AND OBJECT

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 02/02/22 and 17/06/22 included a Challenge entitled “Female Founder Challenge” (hereinafter the “Challenge”).

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

 

3) PARTICIPANTS

The Female Founder Challenge is open to all female founders, co-founders, CEOs or Co-CEOs of a startup wishing to raise funds. To participate, startups must have the ambition to raise a minimum $500,000. This fourth edition of the Challenge also remains open to all candidates from previous editions, with the exception of the winner of the 2019, 2020 and 2021 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 Guided tour, the Afterwork, the Pitch contest and the Award ceremony (which will take place on 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 5 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.

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.

 

4) PARTICIPATION IN THE CHALLENGE

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

• Connect to the platform Agorize between February 02, 2022 at 12:00 Hour CET and March 25, 2022 at 23:59 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 18, 2022: Official Release of the Top 30
• May 4, 2022: Online Bootcamp and the announcement of the 5 finalists
• June 17, 2022: VivaTech Ceremony: 

• Pitch and Award Ceremony
• Office Hours
• Guided Tour
• Women Afterwork

5 selected startups will have to present their project in front  of the jury members and the public present on the 17 June 2022 to Viva Technology, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, 75015 Paris. The exact time will be communicated later to the selected Startups.

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

5) DETERMINATION OF THE WINNERS

• Female founder expertise and experience
• Innovation of the product / solution
• Leadership
• Scaling Potential
• Impact of the solution

The winning startup will be announced at the end of all the presentations during the Finale Ceremony at Viva Technology, June 17th, 2022.

 

 6) PRIZES

All the Candidates:

• Access to a free online bootcamp on fundraising 

5 finalists:

• Pitch your solution in front of a jury of top VCs and investors
• 1:1 appointments with VC during Office Hours
• A Startup Corner digital package for VivaTech 2022 
• 2 free Startup Full Passes for Viva Technology Event 2022
• 5 free Online Passes for Viva Technology Event 2022

Winner - Female Founder 2022:

• Visibility on Viva Technology Event
• A private meeting with the FFC’s high-level VC jury
• A speaking opportunity with Maddyness (at the discretion of the editorial staff)
• Mentoring sessions on fundraising
• A startup booth at VivaTech 2023

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 on June 17, 2022.

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.

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. 

9) PERSONAL DATA COLLECTION

9.1 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 2022 Event. Data relating to the Selected Candidates will be retained for the whole duration of the business relationship between the Sponsor and the Candidate.

9.1 PURPOSE AND RECIPIENTS

The collection and processing of such personal data will be transferred to our co-organizer 50inTech and our partner Avolta Partner 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 to 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 Top 30 and the 5 finalists. 

 

10) APPLICABLES LAWS, SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES AND ILLEGALITY

10.1 GOVERNING LAW

In the Event of a dispute arising out of or in connection with these User Rules (a "Dispute"), the parties shall first seek settlement of that Dispute by mediation. Either party may commence mediation by sending to the other party a written request for mediation, 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 settled by mediation 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 

10.2 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 settlement of that Dispute by mediation. Either party may commence mediation by sending to the other party a written request for mediation, 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 settled by mediation 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 .

 

10.3 CONTACT DETAILS

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