Uber has announced the winners of UberPITCH 2016, the company’s initiative for investing in women-led companies. Participants required at least one woman in a leadership position, and competed for the $120,000 prize pool. Uber partnered with The Refinery and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for the initiative. Overall, 3 winners were announced out of the 5,000 startups to submit their applications for the program. This included: SeekSherpa: Founded by Sukhmani Singh, SeekSherpa is a digital platform for locals to market and sell ‘experiences’ to travellers. The platform lets locals like chefs, historians, students, journalists, and photographers curate tours, and travel plans for tourists, for a price. The idea is to connect tourists with an ideal tour guide. LeanAgri: This startup plans to provide end-to-end solutions for farmers to increase their farm productivity. It claims its project currently increases farm productivity by as much as 300%, thought scientific farming techniques. Ambee: Ambee is a network of hospital and private ambulances on a single platform, enabling users to find the nearest ambulance to go to a destination of their choice. Founded by Jaimon Jose, the startup currently operates in Hyderabad. The winners and the finalists will split the $120,000 prize, in addition to receiving an investment of $50,000. The companies will also be invited to San Francisco, where they will be advised and provided guidance by top Uber executives and other venture capitalists.
