inDrive, the organiser of Aurora Tech Award, an annual global award for women founders of tech startups, has officially opened applications for the 2026 edition beginning from August 12, 2025, till November 12, 2025.
The annual global award celebrates visionary female entrepreneurs who are reshaping the future of technology and driving meaningful social change. Founded by inDrive in 2021, the Aurora Tech Award supports women-led startups that combine innovation with impact.
Over the years, the award has grown into a powerful platform for elevating underrepresented voices in tech, with African female founders notably winning the award in three consecutive years. The 2025 edition attracted a record-breaking 2,018 applications from 116 countries – double the number received the previous year. Finalists represented regions including Africa, MENA, LATAM, Central Asia, and APAC, with startups spanning health tech, AI, fintech, edtech, agrotech, and more.
In 2025, 31 African innovators reached the Aurora Tech Award’s Top 120, with Nigeria’s Solape Akinpelu taking home the first prize.
To be eligible to participate, startups must meet the following criteria which include ownership or co-ownership by a woman, registration not more than 5 years, working prototype- be at pre-seed stage, within the funding limit of $6million in total investment. Eligible participants can apply by submitting an online application at auroratechaward.com.
Speaking on the award, Head of the Aurora Tech Award, Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, explained that the award is meant to unleash a next generation of women techpreneurs.
“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,” she said.
This year, top 100 female founders who emerged quarter finalists will be announced on December 8, 2025. Following that grading phase, semifinalists (top 30) will be unveiled thereafter with the Top 3 finalists announced early 2026.
To arrive at the top 3 finalists, an esteemed jury of investors and industry experts will evaluate the entries based on innovation, scalability, and social impact. At the end, finalists will participate in a tailored mentorship program between February–March 2026, ahead of the Aurora Tech Award ceremony scheduled for March–April 2026.
While the winner takes home $50,000 as grand prize, both the first-runner-up and second runner-up will receive $20,000 and $ 15,000 respectively.
Previous finalists and winners of the Aurora Tech Award speak to the unique value it offers beyond just financial support. Solape Akinpelu, the 2025 winner from Nigeria, said, “Winning the Aurora Tech Award proved that African women founders can thrive on the global stage. The funding, mentorship, and exposure transformed my organization’s growth. I urge South African women innovators to apply, your ideas deserve to be seen and celebrated.”
Another 2025 finalist from Chile who spoke on the award, Loretxu Garcia, stated 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.”
The 2025 third-place winner, Shreya Prakash of FlexiBees, India, said “while emphasising the significance of the platform noted that “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.”
Beyond the prize money, finalists will gain access to a curated network of investors and strategic partners, inDrive’s global expertise and mentoring support as well as resources to grow, fundraise, and scale internationally.
