Daily Tribune
She Loves Tech 2024 Philippines winners Unprude and Farmtri will represent the country in the competition’s Regional Finals in Singapore, competing against other women-founded startups from Southeast Asia.
She Loves Tech co-founder Leanne Robers shares the importance of women-led innovation and the importance of championing women in male-dominated industries such as tech.
Unprude co-founder Dr. Rica Cruz offers culturally grounded solutions to make sex therapy accessible, affordable, and shame-free by offering online and offline products.
Farmtri co-founder Marini Fernandez pitches her B2B platform that connects farmers to food businesses, all the while harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to minimize waste and revenue losses.
SM Supermalls joined forces with She Loves Tech, QBO Innovation Hub, and Ideaspace Ventures Inc. to empower 10 Filipina-led tech startups to showcase their innovative and impactful business models on 2 August 2024 in the Philippine finals of She Loves Tech 2024 held at SM Aura’s Samsung Hall.
She Loves Tech, a Singapore-based startup accelerator led and founded by three women, has made supporting and launching women-led businesses their main focus since 2015. This advocacy has led to the establishment of the world’s largest startup competition for women and tech with the same name.
This year’s finalists come from varying industries, including agri-tech, health and wellness, PWD communications, and more. From this selection of outstanding businesses, Unprude and Farmtri were chosen to represent the Philippines in Regional Finals, which will be held in Singapore later this year.
The grand winner, Unprude, is an app that encourages self-reflection to help users navigate sexual and life challenges, fostering deeper self-understanding, better relationships, and greater compassion for others. In second place, Farmtri is a B2B digital platform that is innovating the food value chain. They utilize artificial intelligence to predict market trends that help food businesses and farmers minimize losses and food waste.
SM Supermalls shares in She Loves Tech’s vision, as one of the largest supporters of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and projects that empower women. What’s more, SM Cyberzone is also celebrating Cyber Month this August, which means a larger focus on all things tech and how it can help level up anyone’s lifestyle, including through tech-powered job creation and tech-integrated business practices that address sustainability and community-building.
The partnership is also a continuation of SM’s year-round support for women-led businesses and startups, which can be seen through initiatives like SM’s Weekend Marketplace and the SM4SMEs Community Bazaar.
“SM is deeply honored to be partnering with She Loves Tech to host the Philippine leg of this competition. We are excited to see what these brilliant, hardworking, and business-minded women have in store for the betterment of our society,” said Steven Tan, President of SM Supermalls and a staunch women’s advocate.
