Apple has opened its doors to 11 female-founded app development companies for the inaugural session of Entrepreneur Camp.
The program is designed to provide female app creators with the tools needed to thrive in today’s global app economy. Since the App Store launched in 2008, developers have earned $120 billion, with more than a quarter of that in the past year alone, Apple says in a press release.
Entrepreneur Camp is a two-week immersive hands-on technology lab where participants work one-on-one with Apple experts and engineers to accelerate their apps. The program also includes sessions on design, technology and App Store marketing, as well as ongoing guidance and support from an Apple Developer Relations representative. The curriculum will help developers take advantage of cutting-edge Apple technologies, including optimizing for the A12 Bionic chip, integrating Core ML, building new experiences with ARKit and more. Each participating company will also receive two tickets to WWDC and complementary membership to the Apple Developer Program for one year.
“In the past, starting a small business often meant having to invest in overhead, inventory or retail space. Today, a world of opportunity opens up with some coding skills and an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director, Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor, Women@Apple. “The App Store is the new digital Main Street, and creative developers are tapping into the vast potential of the global app economy. We hope that this program helps to inspire women around the world to learn to code, join the iOS development community and share in the thriving app economy.”
The apps selected for the first session of Entrepreneur Camp are: Bites by Warehouse Apps LLC; Camille by Ohhh, Inc.; CUCO: Lembrete de Medicamentos by CUCO Health; Deepr by Mental Mobile, LLC; D’efekt by Tatevik Gasparyan, Nané Toumanian and Vahagn Khachikyan; Hopscotch by Hopscotch Technologies; LactApp by LactApp Women Health; Pureple by Iceclip LLC; Statues of the La Paz Malecón by Estudio Chispa; WeParent by FamTerra Inc.; and Seneca Connect by Seneca Women.
Entrepreneur Camp will hold sessions on a quarterly basis, with up to 20 app companies accepted for each round. To be admitted to the program, app-driven businesses must be female founded, co-founded or led, and have at least one woman on the product development team. They must also have a working app or prototype. For more information on Apple Entrepreneur Camp or to apply, visit developer.apple.com/entrepreneur-camp.
