Built in a day, now a registered business: the women's health startup born at a London AI hackathon

A room full of strangers became the co-founders of HERROUTE, an AI-powered women's health platform tackling PCOS,in a single day. Now Digital Women's AI Build Day returns to London on 15 July, hosted at NatWest and sponsored by Raylo, with a £3,000 prize for the next team to do it.

Digital Women, the national network supporting women across marketing, tech, business and entrepreneurship, will host its next AI Build Day on Wednesday 15 July 2026 at NatWest's London hub, 94 Moorgate. In a single day, women with no requirement to be technical will form teams, use AI tools to build something that doesn't yet exist, and pitch it live to a Dragon's Den-style judging panel for a £3,000 prize.

The format has already proven it can do more than inspire, it can launch businesses.

At the last AI Build Day in March 2026, hosted at Canva's London HQ, a team of women who had never met before walked in with no idea and walked out with HERROUTE, an AI-powered women's health platform tackling PCOS. They won the £3,000 prize on the day and they didn't stop there. The team went on to register the business, kept building, and are now taking HERROUTE forward as a real product in the market. One of its co-founders, Thuha Wright, returns to the 15 July event on the other side of the table, this time as a mentor and judge.

"AI has completely changed what's possible. You no longer need a developer or a big team to test an idea you need the right room and the courage to start. HERROUTE is living proof of that. Two hours of building turned into a registered business. AI Build Day exists to give more women that exact moment, surrounded by people who want them to win," said Lucy Hall, Founder and CEO of SocialDay and Digital Women.

HERROUTE team Quote  - Thuha Wright - 

It was incredible to see all these women develop innovative, useful ideas within the span of 2 hours — unencumbered by rules, expectations, and red tape. Just free to create. 

We’re now using our £3K prize to see how far we can take our AI-powered women’s health app

HerRoute is about giving women clearer, faster access to health information and support, focused initially on PMOS, without the confusion or dismissal that so many still experience. We’re building it to help women feel more informed, more confident, and better equipped to advocate for themselves. I believe in HerRoute because women’s health deserves more attention, better tools, and solutions shaped by the people living it. 

- Quote Ends 

What happens on the day

Participants are placed into curated, diverse teams of six and given a brief: build an AI-powered solution that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses solve a common problem — from cash flow and funding access to marketing, operations and customer acquisition. The day combines rapid skill sessions, a build sprint with experts and judges circulating, and a strictly timed three-minute pitch to the panel. Judges score on commerciality, market fit, branding, quality of product and originality. The winning team takes home £3,000, £500 per person to build their next big thing plus featured coverage across Digital Women's channels.

Speakers and judges

The day's rapid skill sessions will be led by an expert line-up including Suman Randhawa (CCO at ATOMIC) on sales messaging and pitching, Coco Shellim (Founder & CEO, Sound AiSleep) on rapid AI prototyping and vibe coding, Luke Pamflett (Accelerator Community Manager, NatWest) on business commerciality, and Cliona Jordan (Google) on AI tools. The Dragon's Den-style judging panel features leaders from investment, entrepreneurship, marketing and product, including representatives from NatWest and Raylo, alongside HERROUTE co-founder Thuha Wright. Further speakers and judges will be announced in the coming weeks.

Event details

• What: AI Build Day — a one-day, Dragon's Den-style AI hackathon for women
• When: Wednesday 15 July 2026
• Where: NatWest Event Hub, 94 Moorgate, London EC2M 6XT
• Prize: £3,000 (£500 per winning team member)
• Places: Strictly limited to 60 participants (10 teams of six)
• Tickets: £75 + VAT (Digital Women members) / £125 + VAT (non-members)
• Accreditation: CPD accredited
• In partnership with: NatWest · Sponsored by: Raylo
• Tickets and information: digitalwomen.live

About Digital Women

Digital Women is a professional network and platform supporting women across marketing, tech, business and entrepreneurship. It exists to create practical, skill-building, commercially intelligent spaces for women to grow and thrive — spanning career progression, digital capability, leadership development, AI and emerging tech, and commercial confidence. Digital Women is CPD accredited and is a SocialDay company (company number 14853448).

About the partners

NatWest hosts AI Build Day at its London Event Hub and runs the NatWest Accelerator, supporting founders to start, scale and grow — including a Female Founders Community open to women in business at no cost.

Raylo is the subscription platform for the world's leading electronics brands, allowing customers and businesses to subscribe to the latest devices and upgrade when ready. A certified B Corp and FCA-authorised, Raylo is trusted by 130,000+ subscribers, with every device refurbished and rehomed rather than sent to landfill.