Uber Wants to Give You $95K

InStyle Staff
Updated
Polish up that elevator pitch for Sophia Amoruso.

Stay in your lane, Cash Cab, because Uber is teaming up with Girlboss to give entrepreneurs a brand-new way to snag some capital with Uber Pitch. Think of it as Shark Tank, but with an all-female panel of execs, all of whom are ready to take on the Next Big Thing.

The panelists include Jen Rubio, co-founder and chief brand officer of luggage company Away; Erika Decker, global head of brand relevance, planning and integration at Uber; Ita Ekpoudom, partner at Gingerbread Capital; and Alli Webb, founder of DryBar. Anyone can submit an application, but Uber and Girlboss state that the initiative is meant to award "pitches that champion female equality, empowerment, and the pursuit of entrepreneurship."

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Anyone interested in pitching an idea can submit their entry at uber.girlboss.com before October 21. On October 30, five winners will be notified and on November 17 and 18, the finalists will pitch to the panel and a winner will be announced at the Girlboss Rally. First place winners will receive $90,000 cash and $5,000 Uber credits for eats and rides. Second place will snag $60,000 cash and $5,000 Uber credits and third place will get: $50,000 cash and $5,000 Uber credit.

Girlboss states that it wanted to work with Uber because of its entrepreneurial spirit and wanted an all-female panel because studies have shown that women in charge actually make other females around them feel empowered and ambitious. Not only do the winners receive big prizes, they'll have ongoing mentorship from the panel to foster their growth.

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"We are proud to work with Uber to support the Girlboss community and beyond, contributing resources and mentorship to help change the ratio of women-owned businesses," Sophia Amoruso, Girlboss CEO and co-founder said in a statement. "The only way to do that effectively is to fund businesses that wouldn’t otherwise have that opportunity, and provide as many entrepreneurs as possible with access to the types of resources, tools and mentorship that have been essential on my own journey.”

Passion projects can become major business — just ask Sophia Amuruso — so get that pitch perfected and you could be one of the lucky winners.