The Women Startup Challenge Europe, which will be the largest VC competition for women-led startups on the continent will happen in London.

From now through 8 March, women-led startups from across Europe are invited to apply. Then, a team of judges including Martin Bryant (former Editor-at-Large of The Next Web) and Gina Miller (Founding Partner at SCM Partners) will assess all applications and narrow them down to the top 10 finalists.

Those finalists will be invited to pitch their businesses in person at London City Hall in the office of Mayor Sadiq Khan on Wednesday, 3 May, to a team of in-person judges including Jimmy Wales (Co-Founder of Wikipedia) and Baroness Martha Lane Fox (Founder of dot everyone and Co-Founder of lastminute.com).

The winner will earn €50,000 in seed capital to scale her business.

Information about eligibility and the application can be found here, and I’ve also attached our press release. I’d be very grateful if you can share this with the women-led startups you know.

As Craig Newmark (Founder of craigslist and an Advisory Committee member) says, “Only 10 percent of global investor money goes to women-led startups, yet women-led companies yield a 35 percent higher return than those led by men.” We hope that Women Startup Challenge Europe can play a role in smashing that statistic