Aurora Tech Award

Attention! Greatness alert! 🚨30 startups (out of 2,018!) are advancing in the Aurora Tech Award! All our applicants have a potential to do big things and make waves in the investor community, but these 30 stood out more this time 🔥🔥🔥 From across 6 regions, 3 countries shone the brightest: 🇳🇬 Nigeria leads with 7 startups, 🇺🇸 United States follows with 5, 🇧🇷 Brazil claims 3. You ladies and your hard work made your countries proud! 💫 “Kudos to the Aurora Tech Award and all the judges! There was some solid quality and a few ventures I’d be excited to invest in. Big thanks to inDrive for making this initiative possible!”, Amarit C., the 2025 Aurora Tech Award 2025 jury. Exciting! Slide the gallery to see how we chose the list—and who made it! Hail to wonderful founders (and look for their startups in the commentary): Nyifamu Ogechi Manzo, MBA Leonie Korn Omolara Sanni, Esther Anammah Opeyemi Kehinde Esther Eruchie, Modupe Odele Debbie Oppong-Asumang 'Solape Akinpelu Laura Velásquez Herrera, LORETXU GARCIA ARRAZTOA Thais Sterenberg Gulnaza Khalmanbetova, Dilnoza Sulaymonova Shreya Prakash, Luana Silva, Roberta Moreira Lima, Manishaa Soin, Nishat Anjum Palka, Heiura Itae-Tetaa, Alessia Frasson, Maria Kardakova, RNutr, PGR, Inta Buša, Gabriela Diana Karoliina Kauhanen, Renuka Agarwal, Adriana González, Sara Berkai, Mercy Oladipo, Veronica Lee.

Here’s how a casual chat at a 5km fun run led to my first fractional brand client 9 months later 🙈 From a Diary of a CEO 5km run in May 2024 🤝 to an hour-long career chat with Isabella Ghassemi-Smith 🤝 to a LinkedIn post on my career break 8 months later 🤝 to a DM exchange & virtual meet 🤝 to now working together alongside the amazing team at the Aurora Tech Award in 2025! Excited to share that I’ve joined the 🌟Aurora Tech Award.🌟, powered by inDrive (the world’s second-largest ride-sharing app), as a Fractional Growth & Strategy Director—scaling growth, partnerships, B2B engagement, and the funds impact. 🚀 Aurora isn’t just a tech award—it’s a launchpad for the next generation of female unicorn founders in emerging markets, providing funding, investor access, and a global network to bold women in tech redefining industries. Having navigated a winding career across tech, funds, product, and consulting—as well as finding my own way as a woman in corporate and entrepreneurship myself—this was a career no-brainer for me! 🤝 If you’re keen to partner with an organisation championing female founders, add impact to your CSR or employee wellbeing initiatives in female leadership & tech, are a female led tech founder, or are looking to engage with entrepreneurial female-led businesses, DM me - let's chat! ☕ So grateful Isabella Ghassemi-Smith and I crossed paths—lovely proof that real-life connections spark real-life opportunities! 📷 Me at the PerfectTed x The Diary Of A CEO 5km fun run—sweaty & blissfully unaware this convo would lead to an incredible opportunity 9+ months later… CC Cossie Lewis & Marta Lindsay-Pérez—miss seeing your smiley faces in the office!

A month ago, we announced our Top 30 founders—today, we’re highlighting the 3 countries with the most startups advancing in the Aurora Tech Award. You’ve made us proud! Let’s celebrate these 15 trailblazers—and see who makes it to the finalists on February 26! ⚡️😎 Are you as excited as we are? 🤩 Nyifamu Ogechi Manzo, MBA Omolara Sanni Esther Anammah Opeyemi Kehinde Esther Eruchie Modupe Odele 'Solape Akinpelu Renuka Agarwal Adriana González Sara Berkai Mercy Oladipo Veronica Lee Thais Sterenberg Luana Silva Roberta Moreira Lima

We’re continuing our “Valentine” series on Acts of Kindness: interviews with people at inDrive who are doing amazing projects to help or inspire others (outside of work). This time we spoke to Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, our Head of Awards. Her podcast, “The Day I… “ inspires people to do that thing - the one you’ve been thinking about for ages, but just keep putting off. It’s a source of inspiration for “anyone who’s facing a moment in their life and needs a push to just go for it.” Here’s what she had to say about the podcast, and what she wants it to achieve.... Find the link to our blog in the first comment below to read all about it. 🔽

Egypt, where do you find investors ready to back your company? Year after year, investment in female-led startups is rising—because they’re delivering results and proving their profitability. But how do you step into this space? And more importantly, where do you find the right investors? This is the first post of its kind: a curated list of funds and investment organizations that are already investing in women-led businesses—and are eager to do more. Swipe through to explore Egypt’s top 7 investors fueling the next big success story—led by a woman! And don’t forget to save and share it with your community!🔥 Tiye Angels - Egypt's first Women's Angel Investor Network EBRD Venture Capital Flat6Labs Algebra Ventures IFC - International Finance Corporation Beltone HALA Ventures

Neurodivergent leaders are transforming the workplace—and it's about time we made room for them at the table. In my latest ForbesWomen piece, I explore how programs like the 92NY Women inPower Fellowship, led by Rebekah Shrestha, are breaking down barriers for neurodivergent women in leadership. 🧠💪 I also spoke with Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, Head of the Aurora Tech Award at inDrive, about why it's no longer enough to offer a seat at the table—we need to build tables where everyone belongs. From flexible work environments to neuroinclusive leadership pipelines, it's clear that investing in neurodiverse talent isn't just the right thing to do—it's the smart thing to do. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eqCQgNQ5 #NeurodiversityAtWork #InclusiveLeadership #WomenInPower #NeurodivergentLeaders #ForbesWomen

What makes investors place billion-dollar bets on a startup? A bold question—and we’re diving right in to find out 🕵️♀️👣 Check out 8 of the highest valued female-led unicorns from 4 countries. What sets them apart? What can we learn? We made a step to answer. Are those quotes explanatory enough? We’re inviting our partners, founders, and VCs to the table. Got insights to share? Drop a comment or repost to spark the dialogue together! Ladies and their unicorns Melanie Perkins Lauren Cooks Levitan Shuo Wang Cristina Fonseca Lucy Guo Neeti Mehta Shukla Canva Xiaohongshu Faire Deel Talkdesk Scale AI Automation Anywhere 1Password Thanks for opinions Blackbird Ventures Shihao T. Anouk Dey Durable Capital Partners LP Jeannette zu Fürstenberg General Catalyst La Famiglia Garth Timoll, Sr. Top Tier Capital Partners Tegus Scott Sandell New Enterprise Associates (NEA) Accel

Raising investment is an art form—where’s the Oscar for that? 😅 Ladies, do you agree? 😎 Let’s talk about the toughest part of the game. We’re inviting founders and investors to join the debate! Which part of fundraising challenges you the most? Vote below! And if your biggest struggle isn’t listed—drop it in the comments! We’d love to hear what you think! Nyifamu Ogechi Manzo, MBA Leonie Korn Omolara Sanni, Esther Anammah Opeyemi Kehinde Esther Eruchie, Modupe Odele Debbie Oppong-Asumang, MBA 'Solape Akinpelu Laura Velásquez Herrera, LORETXU GARCIA ARRAZTOA Thais Sterenberg Gulnaza Khalmanbetova, Dilnoza Sulaymonova Shreya Prakash, Luana Silva, Roberta Moreira Lima, Manishaa Soin, Nishat Anjum Palka, Heiura Itae-Tetaa, Alessia Frasson, Maria Kardakova, RNutr, PGR, Inta Buša, Gabriela Diana Karoliina Kauhanen, Renuka Agarwal, Adriana González, Sara Berkai, Mercy Oladipo, Veronica Lee.

🔬✨International Day of Women and Girls in Science✨🔬 Today, we celebrate the brilliance, resilience, and impact of women who push the boundaries of knowledge. But let’s be honest: being a woman in science is already a challenge. Being a woman scientist-entrepreneur? That’s breaking into an entirely different world —one that wasn’t designed for us. Science is hard. Business is even harder. And both ecosystems remain male-dominated. Women in STEM must navigate bias, funding gaps, and the constant need to prove we belong. Yet, despite these challenges, we do more with less. Diverse teams drive faster innovation, better performance, and groundbreaking solutions. Women bring fresh perspectives, unique approaches, and an unwavering commitment to creating real impact. 💜 Today, I want to celebrate every woman who is breaking barriers —not just in science, but also in the world of biotech and business. ✨ To the incredible women on my team at Kresko RNAtech —fearless innovators who are shaping the future of biotech. Silvana Spinelli Erika Werner Giuliana Acciarri Clara Claus Natalia Fernandez ✨ To the mentors, collaborators, and trailblazers who have supported and inspired me throughout my career. ✨ To the programs empowering women to lead, including WE by Endeavor Argentina, Academy for Women Entrepreneurs —AWE, Women That Build Award by Globant, and the Aurora Tech Award —I’m honored to be part of these communities and to have been recognized by them. The world needs more women in science. More women leading, building, and transforming knowledge into impact. And we’re not waiting for permission—we’re paving the way. Who are the women in STEM who inspire you? Tag them below and let’s celebrate their achievements! 👇 #WomenInScience #STEM #WomenEntrepreneurs #Innovation #Leadership #BreakingBarriers #ScienceMeetsBusiness #DiversityInSTEM #WomenWhoLead

Recently, a founder messaged us saying that running a startup feels like running an ultramarathon. Sounds familiar? 🏃🏿♀️🏃🏽♀️🏃♀️ To help you go the distance, we put together this list of AI and no-code tools* for marketing, conversion, analysis and growth. Swipe through the gallery to discover services that help you and your team work smarter, not harder! 😎 * Most of the tools have free versions. Some of them are not available globally, so we added accessible alternatives (see them in comments). Tools mentioned: HubSpot Overloop AI Apollo.io MailerLite Brevo Lavender 💜🔮 www.ora.im Buffer Later Agorapulse Carrd Inspiration Poptin Mixpanel Google Analytics for Business Delve EngageBay Zoho Salesforce Sales Cloud Zapier Snov.io Similarweb Ubersuggest