FAQ

The go-to page for answers to all questions relating to the application procedure, application form, eligibility criteria, and more.

Unfortunately, to ensure fairness, we are not able to make any exceptions to our eligibility criteria. If you are not eligible on any one of our criteria, we encourage you to consider applying to other programs and funding opportunities.

The company needs to be “for-profit” meaning that it should be structured in such a way as to be self-sustainable by generating sufficient revenue to sustain and grow its activity in the long run. We do not accept applications from non-profit entities. That being said, we do accept applications from for-profit companies that give back a portion of their revenues to charities – as long as the company’s primary goal is to generate revenue.
Furthermore, we also accept applications from business structures such as B corps and Community Interest Companies (CIC) so long as they are not dominantly reliant on donations/grants. It should be further noted that if more than 30% of your financing comes from donation /grants and/or that you have a perpetual need for donations/grants, then your chances of making it past the preliminary screening are very slim.

For Regional Awards, the business should generate annual revenue between $50,000 USD and $5 million USD and employ between 5 and 250 team members (i.e. full-time employees, part-time employees, seasonal workers, or contractors). The business should not have raised more than $2 million USD in equity or quasi-equity financing.

For Science & Technology Pioneer Award, the business should be at least a TRL4, should not have been commercializing its final product/service for more than 5 years, and should not have raised Series A round as of the date of application.
Technology readiness levels (TRLs) are commonly used to estimate the maturity of technologies. The framework enables consistent, uniform discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology. For a detailed description of each TRL, please consult page 50 of this publication, for medical devices consult this table .

An impact-driven business is a business that seeks to create strong, sustainable and measurable social and/or environmental impact. The business must align with at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs encompass 17 goals set by the United Nations for the year 2030 as a universal call to tackle a series range of social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Deep tech innovations are defined as disruptive solutions built around unique, protected, and hard-to-reproduce technological or scientific advances. Deep tech companies have a strong research base and typically will develop a portfolio of patents. They create value by developing new solutions, not only by disrupting business models.
Technology readiness levels (TRLs) are commonly used to estimate the maturity of technologies. The framework enables consistent, uniform discussions of technical maturity across different types of technology. For a detailed description of each TRL, please consult page 50 of this publication, for medical devices consult this table.

Typically the following are not considered eligible for Science & Technology Pioneer Award:
• Combinations of existing technologies
• Productivity tools
• Consumer software applications
• Products/services that offer new prompts, workflows, or interface but use someone else’s artificial intelligence model or infrastructure

We accept applications from businesses that are headed by several co-founders, provided your share of the business is greater or equal to that of your co-founder(s).

No, we accept only businesses that have been registered as independent entities and are not affiliated in any way with an established corporation or a similar women's initiative program.

No, your project must be an original business creation, wholly conceived of by the team; a completely new concept, meaning it cannot be a buy-back, offshoot, subsidiary or franchise of an existing concept. The only exceptions are:
• University or research spin-offs can apply to the Science & Technology Pioneer Award.
• If your business is set up as a holding company-subsidiary structure, whereby the sole purpose of the holding company is to hold the subsidiary, and the subsidiary is a completely new concept and is the only holding of the holding company.

Please read the following definitions if you are unsure:
• University or research spin-off are science-based companies where the underlying research has been conducted by members of their team while they were students or researchers in a university or an independent research center prior to the company creation.
• Spin-offs are divisions of companies or organizations that then become independent businesses with assets, employees, intellectual property, technology, or existing products that are taken from the parent company.
• A subsidiary is a company that is owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company, parent, or holding company.
• A franchise is a type of license that a party (franchisee) acquires to allow them to have access to a business's (franchisor) proprietary knowledge, processes, and trademarks in order to allow the party to sell a product or provide a service under the business's name.

If you are applying to the Regional Awards, you need to have at least 5 team members. Team members can include full-time employees, part-time employees, seasonal workers and contractors. We are looking for businesses with sufficient traction and human resources to start scaling their impact.

No. We only accept applications from one of the founders. The online application should be created using the applicant’s own or the company’s shared email address. The applicant must be the owner of the application and fill all the eligibility criteria. Please consult “Who should apply?” section of the award pages of our website to review our eligibility criteria.

A woman must fill one of the main leadership positions (for example CEO, COO, CTO, General Manager, or Managing Director of the business). A woman must own a share of the business that is greater or equal to that of her co-founder(s).

If you have raised quasi-equity (e.g. SAFE and Convertible Notes), you will be asked to provide estimates of a fully diluted cap table.

No, we do not accept sole proprietorships in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity and to be eligible for our program. The business entity and its finances must be independent from the founder(s).

We accept holding companies, if your business is set up as a holding company-subsidiary structure, whereby the sole purpose of the holding company is to hold the subsidiary, and the subsidiary is a completely new concept and the only holding of the holding company.

Businesses that have formerly participated in the program are not eligible to apply to the Cartier Women’s Initiative a second time and will be automatically rejected. Furthermore, any cofounder of a business that has formerly participated in the program or any other Cartier entrepreneurship programs is also ineligible.

If your business was not selected in any prior edition, you may apply again, provided that your business fits all the eligibility criteria. All applicants that have been selected as fellows or into any other Cartier entrepreneurship programs are ineligible to apply for future editions.

The deadline for submission of the application form is June 16, 2026, 2PM (CEST / GMT+2). The portal will not allow applications to be submitted after the deadline.

Please apply for the award that is most relevant to your business. The Cartier Women’s Initiative fellowship is part of the award package.

You cannot send your application by mail/email. Only online applications submitted through the application platform and received in the appropriate online format are accepted.

Only online applications submitted through the application platform and received in the appropriate online format are accepted.

We do not accept product samples during the call for applications. However, you may include photos of your product or service in your application form.

We are only able to accept applications in English. A good command of English is needed to fully benefit from the many opportunities and resources the Cartier Women’s Initiative program has to offer. We require the Common European Framework of Reference Level B2 and above. This level requires an understanding of main ideas of complex text, technical discussion in business and your field of specialization, ability to interact with fluency and spontaneity with native speakers.

Applicants may only enter one business in the program. Multiple application forms will not be accepted.

The applicant may only apply to one award category per program edition. This means that if the applicant chooses to apply for one Regional Awards category, the applicant may not submit an application for the Science & Technology Pioneer Award.

For the Regional Awards, we are looking for early-stage impact businesses that have gained some traction by validating product/market fit in targeted segment, validating their business and financial model and that are generating revenue. These businesses tend to be innovating on business model and distribution of product and services.

For the Science & Technology Pioneer Award, we are looking for businesses commercializing science-based innovations, pioneering new technology resulting from years of lab-based research and development, a complex engineering process, or a scientific discovery (and not only on a disruptive business model). If your company is leveraging an existing technology, process or model but applying it in a novel way, we would recommend applying to the Regional Awards.

Once you submit your application on the online platform, you will receive an automatic confirmation email. Please make sure to safelist notification emails from the application platform we are using.

You will need to refresh the page and possibly sign back into your account depending on your browser’s settings. We recommend you save the information entered manually by clicking on “Save Draft” at the bottom of the application form if your connection is unstable or if you are planning to take a long break while filling out the form.
We recommend using the most updated version of Google Chrome for an optimal experience and strongly recommend that you first write out your answers offline before copy/pasting them into the online form.

You are limited to 400MB per file and 800MB per submission. Attachments sent to us by email are not accepted. If you wish to submit a heavy file that contains multiple photos or graphs, we would recommend using Adobe Acrobat to compress the file before uploading it.

Once you have submitted your application, you will no longer be able to make changes. However, you may request permission from the administrator to edit your form if it was submitted before the deadline. We are a small team, so please allow us at least 48 business hours to grant edit requests.

Please follow these instructions to consult and/or download your submission.

Applicants should send their inquiries to applicants@cartierwomensinitiative.com.
For any technical issues related to the online platform, please contact Submittable Help Desk.

Applicants will be notified of their application status by December 2026. The fellows will be publicly announced in spring 2027.

The selection process includes shortlisting, in-depth due diligence on the top five applicants in each region, and presentation before the jury. The jury selects and ranks the top three applicants who become our fellows. Applications are evaluated based on our selection criteria and scoring rubric, published on the respective awards pages.

The due diligence is conducted in partnership with an external partner in two phases. Initial due diligence includes an additional information request from the top applicants, secondary research, and exploratory calls with these applicants. They are then re-evaluated against the selection criteria to confirm five finalists per category. Finalists undergo detailed due diligence comprised of second level of desk research, additional information requests, and virtual due diligence calls with the founder(s), leadership team members, and other external stakeholders (e.g. advisors, investors, clients, partners, etc).

Volunteer jury members are selected based on their experience in the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem, business achievements, and commitment to supporting women. They play a key role in selecting fellows. Jury members also provide support, advice and connections to the fellows. Each jury panel consists of four members who bring diverse viewpoints and varied experiences to the process and may include: impact-driven entrepreneur; Cartier Women's Initiative fellow from a prior edition; impact investor, gender-lens investor or venture philanthropist; renowned academic expert in impact investing or impact-driven entrepreneurship; leader in the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The information you provide in your application will be available to third-party organizations in charge of:
• Managing the online application platform
• Reviewing and evaluating your application
• Supporting you and your business as part of the Fellowship program
Please note that they all sign our Non-Disclosure Agreement. However, before submitting entries, CWI urges applicants to confirm with appropriate advisors or legal counsel that any intellectual property described in their summary is protected; i.e., by appropriate intellectual property filings, notices, (patent, copyright, etc.) by the owning institution and/or individuals.

If you believe one of the jury members may have a conflict of interest (e.g. board member of a competitor company), please apply without disclosing sensitive information. If your application is short-listed, we would ensure the jury member in question does not participate in reviewing your application or presentation, nor would they contribute to your scoring.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications we receive, we are unable to discuss applications before, during or after the application period. The Cartier Women’s Initiative’s decision is considered definitive and irrevocable.

It may be subject to local taxation. Payment of all and any taxes in relation to the grant is the sole responsibility of of the Cartier Women’s Initiative fellows.

The Cartier Women’s Initiative does not dictate how the grant is spent but does expect fellows to comply with our impact reporting policy.

All applicants and selected fellows must sign and comply with our Terms and Conditions.