ICYMI: SoGal hosts largest global pitch competition for Women & Diverse Founders

SoGal Foundation , a non-profit on a mission to close the diversity gap in entrepreneurship, hosted the first ever Manila regional round of the SoGal Global Pitch Competition, the largest global pitch competition for women and underrepresented founders.

Winners from each regional round competition will travel to Silicon Valley to participate in SoGal’s three day immersive educational bootcamp for guaranteed facetime with top Silicon Valley investors, curated educational programming, unparalleled 1:1 mentorship, press opportunities, as well as compete on the global level to win a portion of $600K USD in investment capital.

Manila is one of over 25 regional rounds hosted in SoGal chapters across five continents. Other regional rounds were hosted in New York, London, Lagos, Chicago, Berlin, Singapore, and Tokyo, to name a few.

The Manila pitch competition, held on December 4 at QBO, saw 15 women-founded startups selected to pitch.

Fortuna Cools Co.

Suitd

MachiBox Inc.

Isdabest

Magwai

Workbean

Olivia Technology Group, Inc

Dearest Ltd

Saphron

Container Living PH

Wayste

1Export.

Forth Co.

Blue Skin

Agrabah Ventures.

These 15 were selected out of a competitive pool of 37 applications, all from early stage women-founded startups.

The panel of judges at the Manila round, including Priya Thachadi (Villgro Philippines), Paulo Campos (Zalora), Johanna Wiese (Mistletoe Global) and Greg Perez (xchange), selected three winners to move on to the final round in Silicon Valley next February.

The winners—1Export, Magwai, and Isdabest—represent a range of industries, from trade services to skincare to aquaculture.