Closing the gender gap in the tech industry has been at the forefront of the agenda for quite some time now. The unequal representation and participation of women in the tech industry is unfortunately still a reality. Female-driven innovation has been on the rise for some years, but the investment community is still unprepared to understand this opportunity, much less identify and invest in this next generation of ventures.

For that purpose, the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications in 2016 launched the F-LANE accelerator, Europe’s first social tech accelerator that fosters startups that use technology to empower women. Because female empowerment in technology is not just a women’s issue.

After six intensive weeks of coaching and mentoring, the third F-LANE cohort will successfully graduate the programme. This session is dedicated to their pitches. Each team will present their cutting-edge venture that empowers women through technology in a 5 minute pitch. Their final pitch will be preceded by a short keynote which aims to address the potentials of promoting gender inclusive technology in order to add to the knowledge of the purposeful empowerment of women worldwide.