Daily TribuneSM 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
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All-Women Power onstage (from left): Connected Women founder Gina Romero, Imaginable Impact co-founder and CEO Niña Terol, Accelerating Asia program manager Bettina Gamboa, and She Loves Tech co-founder Leanne Robers discuss breaking barriers in the tech startup ecosystem and supporting women-led businesses in a fireside chat moderated by QBO Innovation manager Shor Macalbe.
photograph courtesy of SM Supermalls
Singapore-based startup accelerator She Loves Tech, together with QBO Innovation Hub, Ideaspace Ventures Inc., and with SM Supermalls, empowered 10 Filipina-led tech startups to showcase their innovative and impactful business models in the Philippine finals of She Loves Tech 2024 held last 2 August at SM Aura’s Samsung Hall.
This year’s finalists came from varying industries including agri-tech, health and wellness, communications for differently-abled people and more.
From this selection of outstanding businesses, Unprude and Farmtri were chosen to represent the Philippines in the Regional Finals, which will be held in Singapore later this year.
Conceptualized by sex and relationships therapist Rica Cruz with the help of Chief Technology Officer Nicole Bernabe, grand winner, Unprude 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 was Farmtri, a business-to-business digital platform innovating the food value chain. Farmtri utilizes artificial intelligence to predict market trends helping food businesses and farmers minimize losses and food waste.
Women-led businesses
She Loves Tech, led and founded by Virginia Tan, along with co-founders Rhea See and Leanne Robers, has made supporting and launching women-led businesses their main focus since 2015.
Today, She Loves Tech is the world’s largest startup competition promoting both technology for women and technology by women.
It includes an acceleration program, resource matching, and global pitch competitions and, since its founding, has featured over 1,000 startups across the globe and has gone on to collectively raise more than US$70 million from top venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and Wavemaker, and top tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon.
She Loves Tech’s competitions have improved the visibility of female tech founders the world over, garnering over 1,200 media features, a live audience of over one million people, and over 500 million media impressions.
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.
Cybermonth
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 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.
