Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 07 September 2026 – Standard Chartered, in collaboration with Falak Holding, has concluded the fourth cohort of the Women in Tech Saudi Arabia programme, awarding three women-led start-ups equity-free grant funding totalling USD 45,000 at Demo Day in Riyadh.
The eight-week accelerator supported 10 women-led start-ups, selected from 251 applications received from across the Kingdom, through workshops, mentoring, business development support, investment readiness training and pitch preparation.
The winners were GigSA, an AI-enabled event workforce management company; Lesser for Sustainability Solutions, a sustainability and circular economy technology company; and Munji, a cardiac health technology company using wearable devices, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
Mazen Bunyan, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Coverage, Saudi Arabia, Standard Chartered, said: “The Women in Tech programme reflects our commitment to supporting Saudi Arabia’s innovation economy by empowering women entrepreneurs with the tools, networks and capital they need to scale impactful businesses. The quality and diversity of this cohort demonstrate the depth of talent across the Kingdom and the important role women-led start-ups play in driving economic diversification, job creation and sustainable growth. By helping more women led businesses grow and access capital, the programme supports a broader, more dynamic private sector while contributing to the economic ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030.”
Adwa AlDakheel, Founder and CEO, Falak Holding, commented: “For us, the value of the programme is not measured by the number of sessions or by what happens on the Demo Day stage, but by the progress made within each company: the clarity of its model, the quality of its decisions and its ability to reach the market and access capital. During this cohort, we saw founders move from thinking about the next step to building companies that are better prepared for it. This is the impact we seek at Falak: not only to open doors to opportunities, but to help build companies capable of capitalising on them and competing through them.”
Founders presented their ventures to a judging committee comprising Nada Aljeffri, Chief Risk Officer, Saudi Arabia, and Mahmoud Jawdat, Head of Saudi Corporates, Standard Chartered; Adwa AlDakheel, Founder and CEO, Falak Holding; Bader Alsaif, Entrepreneurship Development Expert, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology; Fawaz Altamimi, Director, Social Entrepreneurship, Monsha’at; and Lujain Nassif, Programme Director, Flat6Labs.
Standard Chartered launched its Women in Tech programme in Saudi Arabia in March 2022 as part of the Bank’s global Women in Tech initiative. Since then, the programme has supported 40 women founders and awarded a total of USD 190,000 in equity-free funding to 12 start-ups.