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Global professional services company Accenture on Friday launched the Women Founders Programme in India to help early-stage, women-led Indian startups in the business-to-business (B2B) deep tech and enterprise SaaS domain grow and advance their businesses.

Under this programme, Accenture will provide selected technology startups in India with an equity-free grant of up to $60,000, along with market and network access and mentoring.

"The technology industry needs active participation of women as technologists and entrepreneurs to strengthen its innovation abilities and drive market relevant solutions using deep tech," Mahesh Zurale, senior managing director, lead - Advanced Technology Centers in India, Accenture.

"Accenture is committed to supporting women in technology and helping female entrepreneurs grow their businesses, and the Women Founders Programme in India is one of many initiatives underway to contribute to these efforts," Zurale added.

Registrations for the Women Founders Programme are currently open to early-stage B2B technology businesses that have at least one woman founder and are focused on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud, blockchain, Web 3.0, metaverse, big data and analytics and extended reality.

The company said that startups applying for the programme must be based out of India and have a working prototype with early adoption metrics.

Applicants will be shortlisted and selected by leaders from Accenture and the ecosystem based on product differentiation, disrupt-ability quotient, leveraging of deep technologies, commercial viability and founder profile.