Who will shape the future of AI? Meet the winners of Women Entrepreneurs in Tech 2026
March 24, 2026 · News
Picture of the two winners with the Jury
In brief
About the Women Entrepreneurs in Tech Prize
Shake’Up, Wavestone’s startup accelerator, is partnering with French business media Les Echos and the venture capital firm Serena to launch the second edition of the “Women Entrepreneurs in Tech” Prize.
Sponsored by Florence NOIZET, the 2026 edition spotlights European AI founders and will honor one exceptional woman who is actively shaping the future of the European tech landscape. Here’s a look back at the second edition of the award.
The objective: to spotlight a woman who is actively contributing to the evolution of the European technology landscape. While the first edition highlighted women in Cybersecurity, the 2026 edition focuses on women entrepreneurs in Artificial Intelligence.
The winner will receive concrete and comprehensive support from the partners of the award:
- Connections with Key industy players
- Media visibility in Les Echos and visibility at Viva Technology
- Tailored support from the Shake’up accelerator and operational mentoring with the Serena teams
Two awards presented for this 2026 edition
The second “Women Entrepreneurs in Tech” awards go to Katie BROWN, Co-founder of LightPanda (French startup) and Lara GERVAISE, Co-founder of Virtuosis AI (Swiss startup).
To identify the best candidates, we relied on our French and European network (radars, calls for projects, VivaTech database), our partners, and the extensive Les Echos ecosystem. Startups that wished to do so were also invited to apply.
After considering 70 startups, we selected 4 finalists (our two winners of course, but also Anastasia STASENKO – co-founder of Pleias and Ksenia DUARTE – co-founder of EX9) who pitched their inspiring projects to our jury (Charlie PERREAU, Joséphine BOONE, Emilie BENAYAD, Juliette AST, Imène KABOUYA & Ghislain DE PIERREFEU).
All these startups presented great innovations and the choice was really hard to make.
LightPanda is the open-source browser AI has been waiting for. The jury was particularly impressed by the potential of this player with a strong value proposition, at a time when Europe is seeking to strengthen its strategic sovereignty.
Virtuosis AI supports early detection and monitoring of stress, anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease. Available as a web app and an API, it will definitively revolutionate health tomorrow.
We are committed to providing Katie and Lara with every support to accelerate their trajectory and help them realize their full potential as the European champions we are confident they will become
A successful event
The ceremony has taken place on 23 March at the Les Echos headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, in the presence of our partners and key players from the AI sector. Were present around 100 people for the occasion.
Imène Kabouya, Partner of Wavestone’s AI Business Unit, opened the event by highlighting the current state of women’s representation. In a world driven by AI, if women are not sufficiently represented today, they risk not being represented at all tomorrow.
The figures speak for themselves. According to the World Economic Forum, women account for less than one-third of the workforce in STEM fields, only 22% of AI-related roles, and fewer than 15% of associated leadership positions. Compounding this, a telling indicator: according to a Harvard Business School study, women are 20% less likely to use generative AI in their work.
Then, Charlie PERREAU, Head of Tech / Media / Start-up Department, animated a roundtable about “Digital Sovereignty: Women’s Inclusion, the Blind Spot of European AI Strategies.” Laurent Champaney (open in a new tab) (Ecole des Arts et Métiers), Tatiana Jama (open in a new tab) (SISTA FUND), Isabelle Collet (open in a new tab) (Geneva University) and Emilie BENAYAD (open in a new tab) (Serena) shared their insightful perspectives.
Finally, Juliette AST and Joséphine Boone introduced the four finalists and presented the awards.
