The Desafía San Francisco immersion and mentoring programme, in its spring 2026 edition, is aimed exclusively at Spanish tech start-ups led by women, with a view to scaling their business model internationally. The programme, designed by ICEX Spain Export and Investment, Red.es, and the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office in Los Angeles, aims to help women-led startups strengthen their strategy, refine their narrative and adapt their value proposition to the US entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Applications are open from 2 to 27 February 2026.

The Desafía San Francisco 2026 programme has been designed with two main objectives:

• To introduce female entrepreneurs to the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem, promoting contact with mentors, entrepreneurs and investment funds, with a special focus on female entrepreneurs and founders, in order to equip them with the necessary tools to scale successfully in the US.
• To facilitate the entry of the selected startups into the North American market through direct contact with investors, corporations and strategic partners.

The programme is divided into three phases:

• Bootcamp (26 March 2026). The programme will begin with an in-person strategic workshop in Madrid. During this session, the selected start-ups will begin working on the objectives to be achieved during the programme and will take part in preparatory workshops focusing on storytelling, goal-setting and market positioning.
• Pre-immersion programme (30 March to 24 April 2026). Over four weeks, the start-ups will take part in a virtual programme comprising masterclasses, mentoring sessions and activities designed to prepare their business development strategy. These sessions will be led by experts in the US market and will help the companies refine their value proposition, optimise their pitch to investors and begin to build their strategies for generating new leads.
• San Francisco Immersion Programme (4–15 May 2026). This two-week in-person immersion will take place in the heart of the Bay Area and will focus on direct engagement with the local ecosystem.
• Desafía Alumni Network. Designed to provide continuity to the support initiated during the immersion programme, strengthen the sense of community, and foster networking, with the aim of promoting the creation of commercial and collaborative opportunities.

The DESAFÍA San Francisco programme is funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), which, under Component 13, “Support for SMEs”, implements the “Action Plan for Internationalisation” as part of Investment 5. And in Component 32, “Support for Recovery and Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters”, Investment 5 focuses on programmes to support the internationalisation of businesses in the territories affected by the DANA and to tackle the tariff crisis.

Registration can be completed via the online form from 2 to 27 February 2026.