💫 We're happy to announce the finalists for the Tech Startup Ecosystem Partner Award (Public Voting) for 2025!
The Tech Startup Ecosystem Partner Award celebrates organizations that move capital, knowledge, and opportunity toward women and diverse founders in technology. These partners build strong pipelines, back early teams, and create the communities and programs future leaders need to grow.
The 2025 finalists represent a mix of investors, accelerators, and advocacy groups across North America and Europe. Their work spans pre-seed and seed funding, angel training, fellowships, global founder communities, and data that exposes funding gaps and drives change.
Below are this year’s finalists:
- Increases representation and influence of women and non-binary leaders in venture through data, summits, and cohorts. Brings more diverse check writers into the rooms where deals happen and improves access to capital for female founders across the tech ecosystem.
- Deploys a $60M Fund II focused on overlooked and diverse founders at pre-seed and seed. Pairs capital with an operator network and a thesis across health, future of work, climate, fintech, and underserved consumers, giving founders practical support from first build to early scale.
- Provides capital access, pitch platforms, and accelerators for Black and Brown women building digital and commerce-focused businesses. Uses crowdfunded pitch programs, national partnerships, and new initiatives like SOAR Together to grow revenue and jobs across local ecosystems.
- Backs women and diverse technical founder teams at pre-seed and seed through a $5M community-driven target fund rooted in the global WomenTech Network and Chief in Tech Angel Network. Uses community events and its own investor network, amplified by global media reach, to connect founders with capital, operators, and enterprise buyers.
- Strengthens the European startup ecosystem for women through flagship programs, mentoring, and research. Their State of Fundraising reports highlight gaps such as women receiving only a small share of DACH capital and give investors and policymakers clear data to act on.
⭐ Gaingels
- Deploys more than $900M across thousands of rounds while centering LGBTQIA+ and diverse leadership. Adds value with a large jobs board, a board access program that places diverse leaders on startup boards, and a global investor network focused on inclusion.
- Runs one of the largest angel networks focused on women-led companies, with more than $170M invested in nearly 235 startups. Recent portfolio outcomes include a unicorn, strong follow-on rounds, and regional forums that educate new angels and support women founders.
- Combines an early-stage fund with a founder community rooted in the Female Founders Alliance. Delivers the Ready Set Raise accelerator, fundraising education, and curated investor programming that help women-led startups gain traction and raise capital.
⭐ Halcyon
- Backs impact-driven founders through fellowships where most participants identify as women or non-binary and many as founders of color. Provides housing, stipends, training, and investor support with strong corporate and foundation partners across health, climate, and equity tech.
- Connects 1.5 million small businesses, many led by women and underrepresented founders, to grants, credit, and education. Has distributed more than $50M in grants and partners with institutions such as Mastercard and Wells Fargo to expand funding tools and data-driven support.
- Supports women and non-binary entrepreneurs through a national summit, a curated funding resource navigator, and an education hub. Provides early-stage founders with practical tools, templates, and partner-led workshops that improve readiness for growth and fundraising.
- Grows the minority innovation economy with specialized programming, capital, and corporate partnerships. The acquisition of Founder Gym, work with state partners, and curated showcases link underrepresented founders to investors, customers, and expert mentors.
- Trains and activates women and non-binary angel investors through its Angels-in-the-Making program and regional cohorts. Builds a community of 550+ members who have invested in more than 130 companies and move early capital into underrepresented founding teams.
⭐ SheBoot
- Runs an investment-ready bootcamp and pitch program for women-led tech startups in Canada. A growing group of women investors commit at least $300K per cohort while founders receive structured training, mentorship, and visibility with angels and funds.
⭐ Startup Women (by Startup Canada)
- Delivers year-round national programming for women-identifying founders, including monthly industry roundtables, free webinars, and regional meetups. Runs an advocacy network that highlights the 4 percent funding gap and publishes resource guides that connect founders to grants and ecosystem partners across Canada.
These ecosystem partners show what focused, long-term work can do for women in tech. They move real money, open real doors, publish the data that matters, and stand beside founders from first idea through growth.
They raise new voices, build stronger pipelines, and create environments where innovation, equity, and opportunity grow together.
🥁 The winners will be announced on December 4 during the Women in Tech Global Awards 2025 ceremony.
🎫 Get your ticket to join the ceremony, get actionable insights from the keynotes, and celebrate the achievements of the outstanding women in tech.