Empowering AI entrepreneurs:

bring your startup vision to life

WAI Benelux Entrepreneur 2025

Are you an aspiring woman entrepreneur based in the Benelux, ready to take your AI-powered idea to the next level?

  • Do you have an idea that needs evolution or validation?
  • Are you at the very early stages of starting your business but unsure how to proceed?
  • Do you want to refine and challenge your business model?
  • Do you need help crafting a compelling pitch message to attract investors and partners?

Find out more

Two stages

Our Women in AI Benelux Entrepreneur Program 2025 is here to empower AI-driven startups like yours to bring their ideas to life and scale with confidence. With two tailored tracks, this program is designed to meet the unique needs of startups at different stages.

Idea stage

WHO?

For startups with an AI-powered idea, but no functional product.

MAIN FOCUS

This track focuses on helping you evolve your idea, validate your concept, and develop your Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Register your interest

MVP stage

WHO?

For startups with a functional AI-powered MVP and some early traction.

MAIN FOCUS

This track helps refine your product-market fit, develop a go-to-market strategy, and prepare for funding.

Registration for the MVP-Stage Startups track will open in April 2025

Kickoff your AI startup

With our WAI Entrepreneur program we can help you to create and kickoff your AI startup. Learn how to start building your business, which steps to take and how to take them. Get valuable feedback along the way from inspiring founders on how well you perform. Get a rigorous entrepreneurial framework and set of tools, test your start-up’s business model and … pitch it!

About the WAI Entrepreneur program

The program is designed to support aspiring women-led or women co-led startups that apply Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Science solutions in a way that promotes ethical leadership and social impact. It aims to encourage more women to step into the field of AI. It is a well-paced program that allows participants to get the most out of networking and think through their ideas.

What we offer

10 workshops over 10 weeks

Choose the program that matches your startup’s current phase—whether you’re refining an idea or scaling an MVP.

Blend of offline and online events

Offline events facilitate peer connections and insights from fellow AI founders, while online sessions focus on educational content and crafting a robust business model

Expert Mentorship

Not just theory! Receive practical, hands-on guidance from seasoned experts in both technical and business domains.

Demo Day Exposure

Conclude the program by presenting your service or product to an audience of investors, industry leaders, and the press, propelling your venture to new heights.

Program structure
Idea-stage AI startups

Dates of the Program: March – June 2025
Who Can Apply: Ideal for teams with AI-powered ideas seeking guidance to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This 10-week program supports early-stage founders through ideation, product validation, and pitch preparation.
Goal: Build an MVP and develop a foundational pitch deck
Target Audience: Teams with AI concepts but no functional product
Key Milestones:

  • Ideation & Problem Validation
  • AI Technology Fundamentals
  • Rapid Prototyping
  • Pitch Development
  • Investor Demo Day

*Please note that the content of workshops and dates may be subject to change. However, our aim is to preserve the overall outcome and quality of the program.

Register your interest
MVP-Stage AI Startups

Dates of the Program: September – November 2025
Who Can Apply: For startups with a working MVP, this program focuses on refining go-to-market strategies, optimizing models, and preparing for funding.

Goal: Strengthen product-market fit, develop a go-to-market strategy, and secure funding
Target Audience: Startups with early traction and a working MVP
Key Milestones:

  • Growth Hacking & User Acquisition
  • AI Model Optimization
  • Scaling Infrastructure
  • Financial Modeling
  • Investor Demo Day

*Please note that the content of workshops and dates may be subject to change. However, our aim is to preserve the overall outcome and quality of the program.

Registration for the MVP-Stage Startups track will open in April 2025

What do people say?

Here are some testimonials from last WAI Entrepreneur program to give you an idea of what to expect. Our program will be tailored based on the needs of this year’s Women in AI Entrepreneur program participants.

Through the Entrepreneur program, we’ve made great strides with SAI Labs, developing a prototype and core use cases. We met incredible people, teamed up as co-founders, and gained invaluable inspiration and guidance. The program connected us to inspiring conferences, pitch events, and our first product leads. The passionate and dedicated team provided the perfect foundation to kickstart our entrepreneurial journey!
Sofia & VivianSAI Labs
Overall being able to start with an idea and make it into a prototype, allowed me to feel empowered that I can too create and start my own business. The ecosystem that surrounded us was openly and willingly helpful. This experience showed me the good and the "Needs work" parts of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in NL.
Kath
The Entrepreneur program has been invaluable. The webinars and in-person lessons provided structure for building my startup, while connecting with like-minded women and receiving insightful feedback was a huge support. Starting with just an idea, I’m proud to have gone from a non-tech founder to developing a functional MVP for a marketing AI assistant for small, women-owned businesses. I’m thrilled that 6 out of 10 beta testers chose to continue after the free trial. Along the way, I even learned to code—it’s been an incredible journey!
UgneAim to WOW
During the Women in AI Entrepreneur program we designed our new scanning app and started building our recommendation engines. The program also allowed us to strengthen our network.
AnkeFLTRD
I have a working MVP - my agency has been up and running, with 4 new clients since September.
MarinaMAWI
As a startup founder in the Women in AI Entrepreneur program, I was immersed in an environment that fosters innovation while simultaneously promoting diversity and empowerment. The program has not only provided me with essential skills and insights, but it also connected me with a network of inspiring entrepreneurs and mentors.
FlorinaLevel Up
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What’s in it for you?

As an aspiring female entrepreneur at an early stage of starting your business the WAI Entrepreneur program can help you kickoff your AI startup. It gives you an opportunity to network with peers and meet other AI founders to learn from their experience.

Accelerate program Women in AI Pitch Presentations
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Accelerate2024_PitchPresentations06

Networking

Access to the network of entrepreneurial like-minded women in the field of AI with possibility to find co-founder and validate product ideas.

Strategy

Build and validate your idea. Get strategic support during the development of your AI ideas. For the go-to-market preparation this is enabled via the Mentorship track of WAI.

Business model

Understand how to think like an entrepreneur. Get to be able to visualize technology stacks and business models, and turn community problems into feasible and sustainable solutions.

Presenting

Create a vision for success. Learn from speakers and industry experts by spending individual sessions with mentors align it with particular topics and expertise. Eventually you will be participating in entertaining activities.

Pitching

Test your start-up's business model and pitch it! Fine-tune your investors pitch and present ideas and models to the jury and field experts.

Frequently asked questions

The Entrepreneur Program is a specialized initiative designed to help women entrepreneurs and founders of AI-driven startups at both the idea and MVP stages develop and scale their products. It provides structured workshops, mentorship, and networking opportunities to prepare startups for funding and growth.

The full program fee is €200 (VAT not included). VAT is added for individual participants, and companies can request an invoice for VAT deduction. The tickets are non-refundable.

The program offers a hybrid format. Key workshops, pitch sessions, and Demo Days are conducted in person to maximize interaction and feedback, while other sessions may be hosted online. Also, our workshops are usually in the evening time.

Both the Idea-Stage and MVP-Stage programs run for 10 weeks. Each program includes weekly workshops, mentorship, and in-person events for networking and pitch preparation.

The Idea-Stage program focuses on teams with an AI concept but no functional product, helping them create an MVP and initial pitch deck. The MVP-Stage program is for startups with a working MVP, concentrating on refining product-market fit, scaling strategies, and investor outreach.

To apply, complete the registration for the Idea-Stage program on our website. Registration for the MVP-Stage program will open in April 2025.

We’ll review all applications and notify selected startups after the application deadline.

Deadline for applications for the Idea-Stage program: 7th of March.

Other questions? Read more

Why we need more female-led AI startups

Unfortunately, women are still very underrepresented in VC-backed startups and in the AI field. That is a shame, because private technology companies led by women are more capital-efficient, deliver higher revenue and are more likely to prioritize socially responsible initiatives and care about underserved communities. The goal of Women in AI (WAI) is to help eliminate the potential biases in AI by encouraging diverse teams in algorithm, product, and business development.

higher ROI
1 %

Private technology companies led by women achieve 35% higher ROI.

 The Kauffman Foundation

higher revenue
-10 X

Companies founded by women deliver more than 2 times as much revenue (per dollar invested).

MassChallenge and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Meet our program team

Andreia Dos Santos

Entrepreneur Program Lead

Elena Persidskaia

Entrepreneur Program Manager

Ayça Turan

Mentorship Manager

Amelia Soare

Events Manager

Sneha Manikanddan

Workshop Manager

Mine Heck

Partnership Manager

Care to partner up or need more information?

Would you like for your business to partner up with our program? Partnering with WAI Entrepreneur is a great way to show your commitment to supporting women as essential stakeholders in the development of emerging technologies, from data scientists to business leaders. By partnering with the program you are able to connect with future changemakers. Would you like to partner with WAI Entrepreneur? Please contact our Entrepreneur Program Lead Andreia with the button below.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the details of our program, also feel free to contact our program lead, Andreia, by clicking on the button below.

Contact us

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