Village Capital, in collaboration with Standard Chartered Foundation (the Foundation), announces the launch of applications for the 2026 US Women in Tech Accelerator, marking the second cohort of the program supporting women startup founders.
Running from April to July, the accelerator empowers women-led, impact-creating, tech-enabled startups to scale their solutions, create jobs, and drive economic mobility nationwide.
Despite growing awareness of the funding gap for women founders, all-women founding teams have received an average of only 2.4% of venture capital funding over the past 30 years, highlighting barriers to innovation, economic growth, and equitable access to resources. The 2026 US Women in Tech Accelerator is designed to help address these gaps by supporting early-stage founders as they strengthen their businesses and prepare for growth.
“We are proud to be partnering with Village Capital to empower entrepreneurs by providing access to the tools and networks they need to innovate and develop themselves as leaders and business owners,” said Mandy DeFilippo, CEO of Standard Chartered US & Americas. “Through this program, early-stage founders receive practical resources, expert advice and mentorship to help them build and scale their businesses, which supports sustainable growth and facilitates longer-term success.”
A Collaborative Approach to Breaking Barriers
This partnership will prioritize startups led by women entrepreneurs from historically marginalized communities. Together, Standard Chartered Foundation and Village Capital will focus on solutions that expand access to:
- Affordable healthcare and wellness resources
- High-quality education and professional development
- Financial resilience and generational wealth-building opportunities
- Essential services that drive economic mobility for underserved communities
The 2026 US Women in Tech Accelerator will provide the selected startups with investment-readiness training, personalized development plans, expert mentorship, and networking opportunities. Also, the entrepreneurs will work with advisors and industry leaders to strengthen their business models and maximize their impact.
The selected founders will participate in virtual workshops designed to equip them with the networks and tools needed to scale their solutions. At the end of the accelerator, two startups will be selected by their peers to receive USD 25K in grant capital.
All startups that apply to the program will be invited to join Abaca, Village Capital’s free web app. Abaca includes Capital Explorer, which equips entrepreneurs to make strategic fundraising decisions that align with their mission and vision and identify relevant resources and capital providers. Abaca also helps entrepreneurs on a venture path to assess their investment readiness using a consistent set of Venture Investment Levels (1-9) and then plan and track progress toward their next level with the Milestone Planner.
For more information, reach out to Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com).
The 2026 US Women in Tech Accelerator is among several youth community programs in the Americas. Other programs include partnerships with Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, and Youth Business International. They all aim to promote greater economic inclusion.
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