The woman-first social networking app, Bumble has announced its first APAC Bumble Bizz pitch competition. The inaugural APAC Bumble Bizz Summit will take place in Sydney on Thursday 10 October and will be free to attend for Bumble users. Applications for the APAC Bumble Bizz pitch competition is open from 4:30 AM IST on Monday 16 September 2019 till 7:30 PM IST on Friday 27 September 2019. 

The competition will award women-founded businesses across the Asia Pacific region $5,000 USD grants to help them establish their companies. 

The announcement is followed by BumbleÂs major milestone of Indian women making the first move, over three million times, and is sending twice as many messages as women in the rest of the world! The number of women on Bumble in India has grown more than 2x faster than men since launch. 

Speaking on the development, Priti Joshi, Vice President of Strategy at Bumble said, ÂInnovation and creativity play a vital role in the community. For us at Bumble, this is about providing opportunities for women entrepreneurs to pitch their best ideas, and weÂll help support them by opening more pathways to success, while also encouraging them to make the first move with their business ventures.Â

Where will the competition run?

The competition will run in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore, the six APAC markets in which Bumble currently operates, with one winner chosen from each country. 

You can network withÂ

The grant recipients will be flown to Sydney to participate in the inaugural APAC Bumble Bizz Summit, featuring some of the worldÂs most inspiring women including Malini Agarwal, Founder, MissMalini Entertainment. 

ÂI know how challenging it can be to start your own business and raise capital in the early days. I am excited that women today have access to something like Bumble Bizz that can help startups make those key connections that can lead to huge opportunities, said Malini Agarwal.

Speakers include Elle Ferguson, Founder, Elle Effect tanning range, Australia; Lana Wilkinson, celebrity stylist, Australia; Lindsay Jang, Founder, MISSBISH and Yardbird, Hong Kong; Liv Lo Golding, TV presenter and Founder of Fitsphere, Singapore; Maggie Marilyn, fashion designer, New Zealand; Martine Ho, Founder of Sunnies, Philippines, and Roxy Jacenko, Founder and director of Sweaty Betty PR and Ministry of Talent, Australia. 

Bumble is an app to bring dating, friend-finding, and career-building to a single platform via Bumble Date, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Bizz. Bumble is rooted in encouraging empowering connections, respectful conversations and meaningful interactions. Since its launch, Bumble has amassed over 66 million registered users in more than 150 countries. This has led to over 1.1 billion women-led first moves and over 4 billion messages sent worldwide.