Tech women entrepreneurs can win Rs. 5 lacs through ABI India's WEQ

Bangalore, September 23, 2014: The Anita Borg Institute (ABI), a non-profit organisation focused on advancing women in computing, today announced the 4th edition of the Women Entrepreneur Quest (WEQ) 2014, which will be held during the 5th annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India (GHCI) conference.

The annual conference, presented by the Anita Borg Institute and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM-India), will take place from 19-21 November, 2014 at the Lalit Ashok Hotel, Bangalore, India.

WEQ is a unique contest designed to promote and showcase early-stage ventures with a technology component, founded or led by women entrepreneurs in all technologies. It focuses on talented women technologists in the founding or leadership team of early stage start-ups who have applied technology in innovative ways to solve meaningful business problems. Registration for the WEQ 2014 contest is open now; and will be closed on 2 November.

To register, please visit: http://gracehopper.org.in/women-entrepreneur-quest/

The winner of the WEQ 2014 contest will be awarded a grand cash prize of Rs 5,00,000, co-sponsored by Intuit. There are a host of other special awards for the top six finalists such as mentoring opportunities with some of the best known entrepreneurs and VCs in the industry, free legal counseling for your business and much more.

"We are extremely thrilled to initiate the 4th Edition of WEQ, which will bring together aspiring women entrepreneurs from across India," said Geetha Kannan, India Managing Director of the Anita Borg Institute. "The development of high-potential women entrepreneurs is extremely critical to India's energetic economy. The significant increase in women-led businesses in the last few years is truly encouraging and I am confident that the WEQ platform will identify and support women entrepreneurs to set up innovative companies that can lead to job creation and business opportunities in local and international markets. "

The WEQ contest will run through a two-level selection process. The selection committee will evaluate all the business plans received and select the best six start-ups based on several criteria including customer need being addressed, competitive business models and effective and innovative use of technology.

The six finalists will be mentored closely by the WEQ Committee, to prepare their pitches for the final Showcase & Award Presentation event. The finalists will make their pitches in person at the GHCI conference on 21 November, 2014 in front of a distinguished panel including VCs, entrepreneurs and mentors.

Last year, more than 140 women entrepreneurs from all over India had applied for the WEQ 2013. The final pitch was challenging and exciting, with the competition running neck to neck. Mausmi Ambastha from Intellocut was the winner for WEQ 2013.

Talking about her experience, Mausmi said, "Winning the Woman Entrepreneur Quest was one of the proudest moments of my life. Start-ups are tough and it means a lot when you get national recognition for your product and your team's hard work. WEQ provides a huge cash prize and an amazing networking opportunity, the most important fuel in a business start-up. We are now in seven geographies in the world and have industry leaders as our clients. We have already raised a seed round and are looking for the next round of investment. I would like to thank the WEQ team for being an important part of my start-up journey."

The event-partners for WEQ 2014 are LetsVenture (www.letsventure.com).

About Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India (GHC India)
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India is India's Largest Gathering of Women Technologists. It is produced by the Anita Borg Institute and presented in partnership with ACM.

About the Anita Borg Institute (ABI)
The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) connects, inspires, and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.

Follow the Anita Borg Institute on Twitter at @anitaborg_org and become a fan at www.facebook.com/anitaborginstitute.

For More Information, contact:
Amit Jain; Amika Limbu
Equator Consultants
Phone: +91 98860 62866; +91 99016 93278
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]