Apple's Entrepreneur Camp's first year closes out with 42 women-led companies participating

As 2019 draws closer to the end, Apple has announced the completion of its final Entrepreneur Camp session of 2019. In its first year, Entrepreneur Camp has hosted 42 women-led companies across 13 different countries with 100 participants. And it's not over.

Thanks to its success, Apple will continue to host Entrepreneur Camp next year, beginning in late January (women founders can still apply through Nov. 15).

Entrepreneur Camp offers a two-week session that includes hands-on tech labs, coding guidance from Apple experts and engineers, and mentorship. It covers such topics as app development, design, machine learning, augmented reality, and marketing. Each company also gets two WWDC invitations and additional ongoing support after the camp session is over.

Entrepreneur Camp is designed to encourage women in the male-centric tech industry to make their place in the world. For a company to be eligible, it needs to have a women founder, co-founder, or CEO and a woman developer on the team.

It can feel intimidating and overwhelming for women getting started in app development. It's been gendered heavily toward men for so long that the culture seems too entrenched to change, but more women are stepping into roles in tech, including becoming founders and CEOs of companies.

Women tend to feel compelled to over perform in male-centric environments, even if their male peers aren't doing anything special. It's like we feel we have to prove that we're capable of the task at hand, and even experts at that task before we've even started it. We worry that we won't be taken seriously or seen as relevant to our male counterparts. Apple's Entrepreneur Camp seems to be an environment that removes that fear and emboldens women to be themselves.

One founder attending Entrepreneur Camp, Jhanvi Shriram, CEO of Krikey, Inc., told Apple that the session was encouraging. "Often, as women we are asked to constantly prove ourselves and defend our achievements even if we've earned a Ph.D. or MBA," said Shiram, "The Apple Entrepreneur Camp was really a place where we were truly supported, and seen for our potential."

Want to know which women-led companies participated this year in Entrepreneur Camp? Maybe some of these companies make one of your favorite apps.

• Abylight Studios - Makers of Hyper Light Drifter and Cursed Castilla
• BetterMe - Makers of BetterMe: Weight Loss Workouts
• Boxies - Creators of box art augmented reality apps and toys for kids
• Create2Thrive, Inc. - Knit-focused site and developers of PatternGenius and knitCompanion
• CUCO Health - Makers of CUCO Digital Therapeutics
• Deepr Dating
• D'efekt - Creators of the photo effects app D'efekt
• Dirty Dog Software - Developers of the DC Wire Sizer tool
• eBibelot, Inc. - Makers of music.iLuv
• Estudio Chispa - Creatives behind Statues of the La Paz Malecón
• expeet - of the Japanese skill sharing app expeet
• Flame Soft AB - web and app developer for business
• Frogg - Developer of Redpoint and other apps
• Gurbani
• Hopscotch Technologies Inc. - Creators of Hopscotch coding education app (I interviewed them!)
• Iceclip - Makers of the Pureple Outfit Planner app
• imagiLabs AB - Creators of the imagiCharm, an accessory that helps you learn to code
• Krikey, Inc. - Creators of the augmented reality app Krikey
• LactApp Women Health - Makers of the LactApp Breastfeeding app
• Lake Coloring - Creators of the coloring book app Lake
• Literacy Matters Foundation - Makers of Mighty Doodle
• Ohhh, Inc. - Creators of Camille
• Peekaboo Studios - Distributors of educational apps like Math Edge
• Peppy Pals - Makers of the kids' app Peppy Pals
• Quin - Creators of the diabetes management program Quin
• SALT for my Squid - Developer of special needs parenting apps
• Seneca Women - Women's leadership organization to Connect women in business
• Shine - Creators of the self-care app Shine (I interviewed them)!
• StoryUP Studios - Makers of the 360º app StoryUp and the AR app Healium
• Struct Club Inc. - Developers of the fitness app Struct Club
• The Dots - Creatives behind the creatives networking app The Dots
• Train Your Eyes - Developers of the visual training program at Trainyoureyes.com
• TRASH INC. - Creators of the AI video editor TRASH (currently in creator beta)
• treebetty - Creators of a variety of apps for kids and adults
• Trill Project, Inc. - Teen creators of the Trill Project anonymous social networking app.
• True Wine
• Virtue
• warehouse apps LLC - Creators of Bites foodie social network app
• WeParent - Developers of the parenting calendar app WeParent
• WishUpon - Developers of the shopping wish list app Wish Upon
• Wysa - Creators of the AI life coach of the same name
• Zimela - Developer of the career-building networking app Zimela