Standard Chartered Americas (the “Bank”) and the Zahn Innovation Center (“Zahn Center”) at the City College of New York (“CCNY”) today announced the winners of the 2026 Women in Tech (“WiT”) Incubator Competition. The program, now in its 12th year, serves as a practical resource for early-stage founders looking to refine their business models and build professional networks.
This year’s participants were led by Popped Up!, an app providing live updates and analytics for pop-up events in one integrated platform. The team was selected for their disciplined approach to improving operational visibility and data insights for event organizers, as well as the progress made throughout the incubator’s curriculum.
As part of the program, participants spent several months refining their go-to-market strategies, working with Standard Chartered employee mentors to successfully bridge the gap between the classroom and the marketplace.
“Through our longstanding partnership with the Zahn Innovation Center at The City College of New York, we are proud to support and recognize New York’s next generation of young entrepreneurs powered by leadership, vision, initiative, and hard work — the same values that guide us every day at Standard Chartered,” said Mandy DeFilippo, CEO, US & Americas, and EMEA at Standard Chartered. “The 2026 cohort has demonstrated incredible ingenuity, and we are delighted to honor this year’s winners as they move from the incubator stage to real-world impact.”
As the grand prize winner, Popped Up! will receive USD15,000 in seed funding to further develop and scale their solution. The second-place prize of USD5,000 was awarded to PlantPulse, a simple plant care kit that tells indoor plant owners exactly when to water their plants.
“We are honored to be named the winner of this year’s Women in Tech Incubator Competition,” said My Anh Phan, CEO of Popped Up!. “This experience has provided us with invaluable mentorship and resources to refine our vision. With this support, we are excited to accelerate our growth and bring our solution to a broader audience.”
“The caliber of innovation we’ve seen this year is truly inspiring,” said Kesia Hudson, Managing Director of the Zahn Innovation Center at CCNY. “These entrepreneurs are not just building businesses; they are building the future. Our collaboration with Standard Chartered ensures that talented women have the platform they deserve to lead, disrupt, and succeed.”
New this year, Standard Chartered also introduced the Standard Chartered Youth Impact Competition, recognizing student-led ventures that drive positive impact across education, workforce development and health. Finalists participated in a live pitch competition to receive seed funding.
The WiT Incubator and Standard Chartered Youth Impact Competition are part of Standard Chartered Foundation programs in the Americas. Other initiatives include partnerships with Bossgirls, Village Capital, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, and Youth Business International, all of which aim to empower the next generation by promoting greater economic inclusion.
About the Women in Tech Incubator at the Zahn Innovation Center
Formed in October 2014, the Standard Chartered Women in Tech Incubator program is an initiative that aims to support greater diversity in gender representation within the technology sector. The incubator program is a partnership with the Zahn Innovation Center at the City College of New York that provides support, guidance, and resources that early-stage women-led startups need to grow into successful businesses. This partnership has various levels of engagement and supports entrepreneurship among women across campus through:
- A mentorship network, including both Bank employees and local leaders in tech and government
- A Women in Entrepreneurship themed speaker series
- A newly renovated space housing the ‘Standard Chartered Technology Incubator for Women Entrepreneurs’ Resource Center
- Entrepreneurship courses and material to address entrepreneurship challenges
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
About Standard Chartered
We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 52 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.
Our history in the US dates back to 1902, and we are currently present in nine locations throughout the Americas. Our Americas franchise focuses on financial institutions and select corporations and plays a key role in facilitating trade and investment flows between the Americas and Asia, Africa, the UK and Europe and the Middle East.
Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
About Standard Chartered Foundation
The Standard Chartered Foundation is a charitable organisation established by Standard Chartered in 2019. It is committed to helping tackle inequality by empowering under-served young people, especially women and people with disabilities. It sets the strategy for – and funds – youth employability and entrepreneurship programmes across Standard Chartered’s markets, helping young people access the skills, networks and support they need to secure decent work and create jobs.
The Standard Chartered Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1184946). See the website for more information: The Standard Chartered Foundation
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