1. Organizer

The organizer of the Women Startup Award is the UnternehmerTUM GmbH, Lichtenbergstr. 6, 85748 Garching (hereinafter referred to as the "Organizer").

2. Eligibility & Conditions for Participation

The Women Startup Award is aimed at early stage founders.

Eligible to participate are natural persons who meet the following criteria at the time of application:

• You have at least one female founder in your team.

• You should either live, study or plan your project in Bavaria.

• You're in the early founding stage and aren't yet officially founded.

• You already have a team or are looking for a co-founder.

• Your idea or product has a reference to technology.

Further provisions and conditions for participation:

• Only one idea can be submitted per person and team.

• The competition is thematically open.

• You as a female founder represent your startup during the competition.

• If you are selected as finalists, you and/or your team will take part in training and coaching offers.

• Finalists need to be present at the final pitch event on November 19, 2026 and pitch on stage.

Legal recourse is excluded.

The Organizer reserves the right to review eligibility in individual cases and to exclude participants who do not meet the criteria.

The application phase ends on June 15, 2026, 23:59 PM.

3. Application and selection process

• Applications must be submitted exclusively via the application form by the Organizer which can be found on the Award website.

• The application deadline is June 15, 2026, 23:59 PM. The time of receipt of the complete application documents is decisive.

• The application must be complete, truthful, and include all required documents (video message and pitch deck).

• By submitting the application, the participant confirms that the submitted documents are their intellectual property or that they have the necessary rights of use.

• The Organizer reserves the right to request additional information or presentations from the participants as part of the selection process.

• The Organizer reserves the right to exclude incomplete or incorrect applications from participation.

• There is no right to the return of the submitted application documents.

All applications are reviewed by a team of UnternehmerTUM startup coaches and experts, with nominations from our Regional Partners taken into consideration. Based on this evaluation, approximately 20 pre-finalists will be selected and informed starting on July 7. The pre-finalists will be invited to the Entry Gate Pitches, which will take place in a hybrid setting (July 15 & 16, 2026, tbc.) at one of our Regional Partners.

During the Entry Gate Pitches, pre-finalists will present their pitch decks and receive questions. Based on this evaluation, 8-10 finalists will be selected by a jury of UnternehmerTUM experts and experts from Regional Partners. The evaluation is based on the following categories: Pitch and Presentation, Customer Problem and Market, Technology, Business Model, Team, Funding, IP, Sustainability and Role and Impact of the Female Founder within the team.

Finalists will be contacted via e-mail and need to confirm their participation. Finalists are expected to take part in exclusive training, coaching and expert sessions. This includes 6 online or onsite 2-4 hour workshops in the time between Sep 21 and Nov 10 and in addition extra coaching sessions.

The selection decision is final and not contestable. Legal recourse is excluded.

4. Prizes / Award

The 8-10 selected finalists of the Women Startup Award will receive a comprehensive support package, including:

• Dedicated Sparring Sessions: Personalized guidance and feedback from our experienced "Angels."

• Exclusive Trainings & Workshops: Focused sessions on key startup areas such as Value Proposition and Product Design, Pitching, Team Building and Financing.

• Individual Coaching and Expert Feedback: Tailored support and insights from industry professionals.

• Enhanced Visibility: Promotion across various media platforms including LinkedIn, our network partners, and our website.

As the culmination of this program, finalists will have the opportunity to present and showcase their startups to a broad audience and the jury at the Pitch Night and Award Ceremony on November 19 in the Munich Urban Colab in Munich.

Final Award Evaluation Process

The evaluation of finalists for the final awards will be conducted by an external jury based on the following categories: Pitch and Presentation, Customer Problem and Market, Technology, Business Model, Team, Funding, IP, Sustainability and Role and Impact of the Female Founder within the team.

The jury evaluation process involves these stages:

• Jury Gate (Oct 27/28): A 20-minute online session where each candidate will pitch their startup to members of the jury and answer questions. Their team may be present for support. This session is dedicated to get feedback from the jury, so startups are able to improve and work on their final pitch presentation. This session will not provide scores to the final evaluation.

• Pitch Deck Evaluation (Nov 10): Finalists have to hand in their final pitch deck which they will present during the Final Pitch Event on November 19. Pitch Decks are shared with the jury members and evaluations of the pitch decks are based on the following categories: Customer Problem and Market, Technology Business Model, Team, Funding, IP, Sustainability and Role and Impact of the Female Founder within the team.

• Live Pitch: During the live pitches on November 19 the jury evaluates in the following category: Pitch and Presentation. The combined scores from the Pitch Deck Evaluation and the Live Pitch will determine the final ranking.

• Main Awards: The top three startup ideas will be recognized at the public Pitch Night on November 19, 2026, at the Munich Urban Colab. The winners of the first three places will receive a combination of cash and non-cash prizes.
  

• Special Prizes: Additional and independent cash prizes will be awarded in different categories. This prize money is intended for the further development of the winning idea, and there are no specific restrictions on its use.
  

A cash payment of non-cash prizes is excluded unless explicitly stated otherwise.

The Organizer reserves the right to change the prize(s) or not to award them in the event of important reasons (e.g., failure to reach a minimum number of qualified applications).

The jury's decision is final and not contestable. Legal recourse is excluded.

The winner(s) are responsible for the taxation of the prize.

5. Cancellation of Competition

The Organizer reserves the right to cancel the competition at any time without prior notification or liability. Participants acknowledge that they are not entitled to any specific prize.

6. Confidentiality

The ideas and documents submitted by the participants will be treated confidentially and used exclusively for the purposes of the competition. The Organizer agrees not to redistribute the submitted short descriptions and idea drafts to third parties without the consent of the participant. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the participants agree that their submitted documents and data will be forwarded to the jury, coaches, experts and sponsors supporting the competition.

The participants declare that they will keep secret all disclosed information about business ideas from other participants. They accept that all new ideas and feedback regarding presented business ideas pass over to the intellectual property of the presenting participant/team.

The confidentiality obligation applies both to the duration of the competition as well as the period thereafter.

All documents and data (excluding data as defined by Art. 4 Nr.1 GDPR), if permission is not explicitly refused, will, after the conclusion of the competition, be included in the UnternehmerTUM start-up network database for the purpose of possible subsequent contact. If you do not wish for your data to be included, please state your preference with your application. The data will be deleted after the competition in this case.

7. Liability

The Organizer shall be liable to the participants for damages only if they have been caused intentionally or through gross negligence. Liability for lost profit is excluded. The limitations do not apply for damages resulting from injury to life, limb, or health

The Organizer shall not be liable for any advice or the depth, extent, quality, and/or quantity of services provided as part of the support package granted under the Women Start-up Award. Furthermore, the Organizer assumes no liability for the correctness of the statements made by judges and other persons participating in the competition

The participants agree further that the services provided under the competition of the Women Start-up Award are merely advisory in nature, without any binding effect on the participant. The participant is free to accept and/or reject such advice offered, shall exercise due diligence and caution in receiving such advice, and will exercise informed and independent judgment in accepting and/or rejecting any such advice.

Participants exempt the Organizer from all possible claims by third parties that could be derived from any violations of copyrights, industrial property rights, trade secrets, or other rights due to the documents submitted.

8. Data Protection / Image Rights

The Information about the collection and processing of your personal data pursuant to Art. 13 GDPR can be found in our UnternehmerTUM GmbH privacy policy.

Personal data within the meaning of the GDPR of the Participant will only be stored, processed, and used by UnternehmerTUM within the scope of the purpose defined by these Terms and Conditions and for internal statistical purposes. Personal Data will not be disclosed to third parties.

Insofar as images are created as part of the Women Startup Award, these are used exclusively for the internal documentation of the program and may be published in individual cases for marketing and PR purposes in social media. The legal basis for this is UnternehmerTUM’s legitimate interest, according to Art. 6 Para. 1 f) GDPR.

Furthermore, you agree that your name and email address may be passed on to external jury members, experts and coaches involved in the competition.

9. Final Provisions

The judges’ decision is final.

Should individual provisions of these Terms and Conditions be wholly or partially invalid or lose their legal validity at a later date, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining Terms and Conditions. The same applies if there is an unforeseen gap in the Terms and Conditions.