The DMZ presents the MasterCard Women in Entrepreneurship Program to strengthen its community of female founders and co-founders and support women as they scale their businesses. The $60,000 program will fuel the success of six women-led startup through cash prizes and placement at the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University.

From Silicon Valley to Berlin to Toronto, there’s a gender gap in the entrepreneurial world; women are noticeably underrepresented. They are less likely to start businesses and when they do, they tend to experience lower revenue growth than their male counterparts.

The competition is open to female entrepreneurs who are the current founder, co-founder or CEO of a startup. Bonus points will be given to startups working in the areas of online and terminal payment integration, loyalty points, cyber security and financial technology.

Six applicants will be selected and awarded $10,000 worth of prizes each in the form of a $5,000 pre-paid MasterCard and extended admission to the DMZ for an extended six to eight month period.

Interested? Applications open on March 8th! 

Submit your online application via the DMZ website. Applications will include a written component and an optional video component.