Europe's VivaTech 2026 Announces Female Founder Finalists

• VivaTech 2026 Female Founders Award recognizes five global startups founded by women entrepreneurs across sectors like climate technology, deep tech, and energy.
• The program aims to counter the underrepresentation of women founders in venture capital investment.

VivaTech, the leading tech and startup event in Europe, has announced the five finalists for the 2026 Female Founder Award, a project dedicated to female entrepreneurship, developed in collaboration with Forvis Mazars (Sponsor & Knowledge Partner), IRIS (Knowledge Partner), JCDecaux (Sponsor), C'est Qui La Boss? (Media Partner), and SISTA (Ambassador).

The initiative is in its eighth year and aims to help women entrepreneurs while physically presenting women-led startups in the worldwide tech ecosystem.

Even though, only 12% of the total venture capital funding goes to startups founded by women, the Female Founder Award has become a major highlight of the VivaTech program, enabling promising companies to get more visibility and helping them with stronger access to funding opportunities and key connecting industry persons. So far, 444 startups from 85 different countries have applied this year.

For this year's event, the five finalists chosen are Ark Climate (Germany), Robeauté (France), Endolith (USA), Revolty (France), and ExoMatter (Germany). On one hand, these finalists represent the global nature of the event and, on the other hand, the variety of innovations coming from women-led startups in sectors such as climate, mobility, deep tech, energy, and sustainable industry.

This year's shortlist features a U.S. presence via Endolith Mining, the American startup founded by Liz Dennett, who was among the final five.

Endolith is leading the mining revolution through eco-friendly and innovative mining methods. The company is using microbes, synthetic biology, and cloud computing technology to totally change copper mining. Endolith is decreasing environmental damage and enhancing the sector's standards.