Village Capital and Standard Chartered Foundation Open Applications for the 2026 US Women In Tech Accelerator Cohort

WASHINGTON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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

Applications for the second cohort are open until January 16, 2026. Full details and eligibility criteria can be found here.

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 ([e-mail]).

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.

About Village Capital

Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage startups to maximize business and impact growth.

Since 2009, Village Capital has supported close to 1,800 startups that have raised over USD 7.7 billion in investment capital. It has made more than 150 investments through its various affiliated funds, including Vilcap Investments, which has invested in 110 peer-selected companies. Additionally, more than 36,000 users actively engage on Abaca, their web app that equips entrepreneurs, ESOs, and capital providers with tools for learning about, assessing suitability and expanding access to financial capital. Its latest feature, Capital Explorer, helps founders identify the most appropriate funding options for their businesses. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital.

About Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 54 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.

Our history in the US dates back to 1902, and we are currently present in nine locations throughout the Americas. Our Americas franchise focuses on financial institutions and select corporations and plays a key role in facilitating trade and investment flows between the Americas and Asia, Africa, the UK and Europe and the Middle East.

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

About Standard Chartered Foundation

The Standard Chartered Foundation is a charitable organisation established by Standard Chartered in 2019. It is committed to helping tackle inequality by empowering under-served young people, especially women and people with disabilities. It sets the strategy for - and funds - youth employability and entrepreneurship programmes across Standard Chartered’s markets, helping young people access the skills, networks and support they need to secure decent work and create jobs. The Standard Chartered Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1184946). See the website for more information: The Standard Chartered Foundation.