Solape Akinpelu, founder of Nigeria-based fintech platform HerVest, has emerged as the winner of the Aurora Tech Award 2025. With the win, Solape Akinpelu claimed the $30,000 cash prize at the grand finale held in Cairo from April 11-13.
The global award, which celebrates women founders building transformative tech ventures, recognised Solape Akinpelu for her work empowering financially underserved women in Africa with access to savings, impact investing, and credit, particularly for smallholder female farmers.
The Aurora Tech Award 2025 drew an unprecedented 2,018 applications from 116 countries, doubling the submissions from the previous year and underscoring its growing influence as a platform for female tech entrepreneurs. The top 10 finalists, representing regions including MENA, LATAM, Central Asia, and APAC, competed in a high-stakes pitch session at the SHE CAN conference.
The conference was hosted by Entreprenelle, Egypt’s leading organisation for women’s empowerment through education and entrepreneurship. It has been a watershed event in the MENA region since 2015, attracting over 7,000 attendees annually and providing a dynamic backdrop for the awards.
Solape Akinpelu’s HerVest stood out among a different field of innovators spanning artificial intelligence, fintech, health tech, and more. Her platform addresses the gender finance gap by offering tailored financial services to women, enabling them to scale businesses and achieve financial independence.
With over 40,000 users, HerVest has become a beacon of inclusive finance in Nigeria, a country where women often face significant barriers to accessing capital.
“This recognition highlights the power of women-led startups to tackle societal challenges through technology,” Akinpelu said in a statement following the win.
The jury, composed of venture capitalists, industry operators, and public sector leaders, evaluated finalists based on their potential to build market-defining ventures. The selection process was rigorous, with only the top 0.5% of applicants advancing to the final stage.
“These women aren’t here because of their gender; they’re here because they’re building businesses investors should care about,” said Isabella Ghassemi-Smith, head of the Aurora Tech Awards. “If the table wasn’t built for them, they built their own. Aurora exists to ensure they get the capital, platform, and network to go further,” she added.
Aside from Solape Akinpelu, meet the other winners
Second place went to Loretxu Garcia Arraztoa of Chile’s Nido Contech, awarded $20,000 for developing nature-based materials to reduce costs and environmental impact in construction. Third place, with a $15,000 prize, was claimed by Shreya Prakash of India’s FlexiBees, a platform connecting experienced women professionals with businesses for flexible, project-based work, addressing low female workforce participation.
Laura Velásquez Herrera of Colombia’s Arkangel AI earned fourth place and $10,000 for her AI-driven platform that enables the early detection of preventable diseases. Fifth place, also receiving $10,000, went to Leonie Korn of Switzerland’s UpLeap, which uses AI to revolutionise medical training through interactive simulations.
Beyond cash prizes, winners gain access to inDrive’s global network, expertise, and connections to investors and industry leaders, resources designed to accelerate growth and secure future funding.
“The Aurora Tech Award is not just an accolade; it’s a launchpad for the next generation of unicorn founders,” said Evgenia Matrosova, Chief Growth Officer and Head of Ride-Hailing at inDrive, the award’s organising company. “We aim to drive systemic change in emerging markets like MENA, closing the gender investment gap.”
The Cairo finale included strategic networking opportunities, such as a dinner with Egypt’s tech ecosystem, fostering partnerships critical for scaling ventures. For Solape Akinpelu, the win builds on HerVest’s momentum, which includes raising over $200,000 from investors like VC4A and Google’s Black Founders Fund, as well as partnerships with organisations like the Mastercard Foundation to train young Nigerians in sustainable agriculture.
The 2025 awards highlighted the global rise of women in tech, with finalists demonstrating resilience and innovation in competitive markets. As Matrosova noted, supporting female founders is about more than recognition; it’s about equipping them with the tools to reshape industries.
For the Nigerian tech founder, Akinpelu and her peers, the Aurora Tech Award marks a pivotal moment, amplifying their vision and paving the way for greater impact.
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