Grants for Women Entrepreneurs in Asia: 8 Programmes With Real Money, Rules and Deadlines
Equity-free money for women founders in Asia exists, but it is scattered across global awards with Asian regional categories, prizes that move to a different region every year, and country programmes run by banks and state governments. Many lists, including the 2025 version of this article, mix these up with investment funds, bank loans, training courses and programmes that ended years ago. We checked every programme below on its official page in October 2026: how much cash a winner receives, who can apply, which part of Asia it covers, and the latest round with its real deadline. When the next round is not announced, we say so instead of guessing a 2027 date. Only 8 programmes passed that check, so this list has 8 entries, not 20. The rest are listed in a separate section with the reason.
Quick answer: the largest grants open to women founders across Asia are the Cartier Women's Initiative ($100,000 for first place in its East Asia and South Asia and Central Asia categories) and the Unlock Her Future Prize (up to $100,000 per winner, in a different region each year). For early-stage startups, the TiE Women programme offers a $50,000 equity-free top prize through local TiE chapters, and health and food-security ventures should watch the Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award (€25,000 plus a six-month accelerator). The only round still open when we checked is She's Next in Kazakhstan, with registration until 22 November 2026.
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Grants for Women Entrepreneurs in Asia Compared
Sources: each programme's official website or the organiser's own press release, checked 28 October 2026. Amounts are as published; we did not convert currencies.
The Best Grants for Women Entrepreneurs in Asia in 2027
1. Cartier Women's Initiative: up to $100,000 for impact businesses
The Cartier Women's Initiative regional awards pick three fellows in each of nine regions, and two of them cover Asia: East Asia and South Asia and Central Asia. First place receives a $100,000 grant, second place $60,000 and third place $30,000, plus a year-long fellowship. The business must be women-owned and women-led, for-profit and built for social or environmental impact. According to the FAQ, it needs annual revenue between $50,000 and $5 million in its last closed fiscal year, 5 to 250 team members, and no more than $2 million raised in equity. A separate Science and Technology Pioneer Award with the same grant amounts is open to deep-tech companies from any country that have not raised a Series A.
Latest round: applications for the 2027 edition closed on 16 June 2026. Applicants hear back by December 2026, the fellows are announced in spring 2027, and the fellowship runs from January to December 2027. The call for the following edition had not been announced when we checked in October 2026.
2. Unlock Her Future Prize: up to $100,000, in a new region each year
The Unlock Her Future Prize from The Bicester Collection, run with Ashoka and endorsed by UN Women, moves to a different region every year: MENA in 2023, Latin America in 2024, South Asia in 2025 and East and Southeast Asia in 2026. According to the organiser's March 2026 announcement, each winner receives a business grant of up to $100,000, an executive education programme and mentoring. Women aged 18 and over could apply with a venture tied to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, either at idea or validation stage or operating for under three years with less than $1 million in revenue.
Latest round: the 2026 East and Southeast Asia round closed on 30 April 2026. Its page lists more than 1,500 applications, 12 finalists and 4 winners from China, Indonesia and Vietnam. The 2027 region had not been announced when we checked in October 2026.
3. TiE Women: a $50,000 equity-free prize for early-stage startups
TiE Women is a global pitch programme run through the chapters of TiE, the entrepreneurs' network with a strong presence in India and across Asia. It advertises more than $100,000 in equity-free cash prizes, with $50,000 for the top winner, plus mentoring and investor access. Startups must be founded or co-founded by women who hold at least 33% of the equity, and the company must be registered on or after 1 January 2019.
Latest round: 2026 applications ran from 8 March to 30 June 2026 and are closed. The Asia semi-finals took place in Hyderabad on 24-26 September 2026, and the global final is set for 14-15 December 2026 at the TiE Global Summit in Indore, India. Dates for the 2027 programme have not been announced; ask your nearest TiE chapter.
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4. Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award: €25,000 for health and food ventures
The Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award, run with the Impact Hub Network, selects 15 women-led ventures a year, five each from Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa and the Middle East. Each winner receives a €25,000 cash prize and a six-month accelerator focused on investor readiness. It is for revenue-generating ventures that solve health or food-security problems in low- and middle-income communities, with annual revenue of up to $1 million; idea-stage concepts, registered charities and sole traders are not eligible. For the 2026 round, the organisation had to be incorporated on or before 1 January 2025.
Latest round: 2026 applications ran from 2 March to 13 April 2026 and are closed. The 2026 winners were chosen from 1,172 applicants; the five Asia Pacific awardees run BillionCarbon, Berikan Protein Initiative, Aquabloom, Shaoulee Food Products and Carer. The award site says applications for the next round open soon and offers a waiting list, but gives no date (checked October 2026).
5. She's Next Kazakhstan: open now, up to 10 million tenge
Visa runs its She's Next grant programme country by country with a local bank. In Kazakhstan it is run with Halyk, and the fifth wave is open to Kazakh citizens aged 18 and over, from women with a business idea to owners of existing companies. There are four categories, each with one winner: starting business (5,000,000 tenge), inclusive business (10,000,000 tenge), existing business (10,000,000 tenge) and IT business (5,000,000 tenge). Taking part is free, and the organisers warn against paid consultants who promise better chances.
Current round: registration is open from 14 September to 22 November 2026, followed by webinars, business plans due from 30 November to 13 December, an expert review that picks 40 projects and then 12 finalists, and a Grand Final in Almaty on 22 January 2027.
6. She's Next Pakistan and Uzbekistan: $10,000-class grants from Visa
In Pakistan, She's Next is run by Visa with HBL. Visa's She's Next Pakistan page describes a $10,000 grant for women entrepreneurs, plus training and mentoring. According to Digital Pakistan, the 2026 edition drew nearly 3,500 applicants, and its five winners were named in Karachi in February 2026; each received $10,000. In Uzbekistan, Visa and Ipak Yuli Bank ran their first wave in 2026: according to Afisha Tashkent, seven winners shared $22,000 in grants at the August 2026 final. Neither country had announced its next round when we checked in October 2026, so follow Visa and the partner bank in your country.
7. ELEVATE Shakti, Karnataka: up to ₹50 lakh for women-owned startups
India's state governments run some of the largest non-dilutive grants in Asia, and Karnataka's ELEVATE programme has a women's track. According to YourStory, ELEVATE offers a one-time grant of up to ₹50 lakh to build prototypes and validate proof of concept, and ELEVATE Shakti (formerly ELEVATE Women) is for startups with at least 51% women ownership. The 25th call opened all four ELEVATE tracks at once, with applications from 25 May 2026, and the programme has backed 330 women-led ventures with ₹77.39 crore. We could not load the official Startup Karnataka portal in October 2026, so confirm the closing date and the next call there before you plan around it.
8. UpGreyed Her: a small grant that includes Southeast Asia
Fintech company Grey runs UpGreyed Her, a $10,000 equity-free grant pool split into prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000. Founders must be women aged 23 to 40 and based in one of the eligible regions, which include Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, the UK and the US. It is small, but the application is short. Latest round: the 2026 round ran from 18 March to 20 April 2026; the 2027 round had not been announced when we checked in October 2026.
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Programmes Discontinued, Closed or Not a Grant for Founders
The 2025 version of this article listed 20 programmes. These did not pass our check in October 2026:
- ASEAN-Australia Young Women Entrepreneurs' Exchange: the grant went to an organisation that designs and runs the exchange, not to founders, and its old application page no longer exists.
- Advancing Women's Empowerment Fund (ANDE): its Asia round ran from May 2020 to December 2021 and gave grants to investors and support organisations, not to founders.
- Asia Women Impact Fund, ADB's COVID-19 relief for women-led SMEs in Vietnam and the 100 x 100 Challenge: investment or bank-financing initiatives, not grants you apply for. The old pages no longer load, and the ADB link pointed to an unrelated project.
- Deutsche Bank and Social Impact Fund (2023): a one-off partnership announcement; the page has been removed and we found no current call.
- Malaysia Budget 2025 allocations: loans and financing through banks such as SME Bank and Bank Rakyat, not grants, and the old source was a blog.
- UNIDO, We-Fi, IFC, UN Women and the Citi Foundation: the old post linked to their homepages. They fund governments, banks and partner organisations, and none has an open grant that a founder can apply to directly.
- Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women: a free online business education programme with in-person classes in India and access to loans through IFC, not a grant.
- Google for Startups Women Founders Fund APAC: gave non-dilutive cash awards to founders in India, Japan and Korea, but its official page now describes it in the past tense.
- Stella McCartney grants, HerRise Fund, Women in Tech Asia Grants and the Women's Venture Competition: we could not find an official, current programme with these terms, so we dropped them.
- Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards and the Amber Grant: real grants, but for UK-registered businesses and for businesses in the US or Canada, so founders based in Asia cannot apply.
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Which Grant for Women Founders in Asia Should You Apply For?
- You run an impact business with $50,000+ in revenue and a team of 5 or more: the Cartier Women's Initiative, in the East Asia or South Asia and Central Asia category.
- You have an idea or a young social venture: the Unlock Her Future Prize when its region covers your country, and TiE Women through your local chapter.
- You build health or food-security solutions: the Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award; join its waiting list now.
- You are a Kazakh citizen: register for She's Next before 22 November 2026; it is the one round open right now.
- You are in India: check your state's startup grants, such as ELEVATE Shakti in Karnataka, and the TiE chapter in your city.
- You need a small grant fast: UpGreyed Her in Southeast Asia, and She's Next where Visa runs it in your country.
If you can travel or register a company elsewhere, compare these with our list of grants for female entrepreneurs worldwide, the female founder grants guide in our Playbook, and grants for female entrepreneurs in Europe on femaleswitch.org. Our sister site Grant-Grants explains which business grants for women are really loans and how prize competitions and innovation challenges work.
How Women Founders in Asia Combine Grants With Other Funding
Most of these programmes give one winner per category, so treat a grant as a bonus, not a plan. Founders who win usually apply to several programmes at once, reuse the same impact numbers and financials, and practise the pitch; Grant-Grants has a guide to grant pitch presentations and one on equity-free funding. In parallel, an incubator gives you mentors and introductions: see our list of startup incubators in Asia and the accelerators and incubators for women on femaleswitch.org. When you are ready to raise, start with our list of early-stage VCs in Asia and the Playbook guide to female founder funding.
Competitions are another source of equity-free cash; our guide to startup competitions in North America shows how prizes and rules differ, and the female founder accelerators list covers programmes that come with funding. If you build with AI, our list of grants for AI startups in Asia is a useful next step. Before you write any application, validate your startup idea with real customers: every jury on this list asks for traction.
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FAQ About Grants for Women Entrepreneurs in Asia
Which grants for women entrepreneurs in Asia give the most money?
The Cartier Women's Initiative gives $100,000 to first place in each regional category, including East Asia and South Asia and Central Asia, and the Unlock Her Future Prize gives up to $100,000 per winner in the region it covers that year. In India, Karnataka's ELEVATE grant goes up to ₹50 lakh.
Is any grant for women founders in Asia open right now?
When we checked in October 2026, She's Next in Kazakhstan was open, with registration until 22 November 2026 for Kazakh citizens. The other programmes on this list had closed their 2026 rounds and not yet announced the next one.
Do I have to give up equity for these grants?
No. All eight programmes give cash prizes or grants without taking shares. Some, like the Bayer Foundation award and TiE Women, add an accelerator or mentoring.
Can an idea-stage startup apply?
Yes for the Unlock Her Future Prize, She's Next in Kazakhstan and ELEVATE Shakti. The Cartier Women's Initiative needs at least $50,000 in revenue, and the Bayer Foundation award excludes idea-stage concepts.
Is the Cartier Women's Initiative open to Southeast Asia?
Cartier lists East Asia and South Asia and Central Asia among its nine regions. Check the regional awards page for which countries each category covers before you apply.
When does the Bayer Foundation Women Entrepreneurs Award open again?
Its 2026 round ran from 2 March to 13 April 2026. In October 2026 the award site said applications open soon and offered a waiting list, without a date.
Where will the Unlock Her Future Prize be held in 2027?
Not announced yet. It moved from MENA (2023) to Latin America (2024), South Asia (2025) and East and Southeast Asia (2026), so watch The Bicester Collection's page for the next region.
Are government loans for women entrepreneurs the same as grants?
No. Many programmes in Asia, such as the Malaysian budget allocations in the old version of this article, are loans or financing through banks that you repay. A grant is money you keep if you meet its rules.
Where can I find grants for women founders outside Asia?
See our list of grants for female entrepreneurs and the femaleswitch.org guide to grants for female entrepreneurs in Europe.
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About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
