Top European Startup Competitions to Participate

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Hello,

Welcome to another Bizzbucket Article. In this post, we listed top Startup competitions that startups should look forward to participating.

Europe host top innovative Startup Competitions around the world. So here is this list of competitions:

Index:

Get in the Ring: Global Startup Competition

One of the coolest startup competitions out there, Get in the Ring hosts different challenges across different cities starting in May, leading up to the finals, which take place on a boxing ring – literally.

You can apply online from April 1st-30th. A 1-year business development support with expenses covered and an investment offer up to €500,000 is provided to the winners. The organization is based in the Netherlands, but the finals change location every year.

“Through Get in the Ring we now have customers in 200 countries. Winning Get in the Ring means we can prove we have value for a global market.”

– ERIC JUYOON KIM, FOUNDER & CEO – DOT

Slush 2020:

One of the world’s boldest, most daring conferences, Slush is a gathering for audacious disruptors that takes place in 4 cities around the world: Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Helsinki.

Born as a student-driven, not-for-profit movement to change attitudes toward entrepreneurship, it has grown from a single gathering in Helsinki to a series of events organized all around the world. 

As such, there is no monetary prize, but there’s speed mentoring, resources, and powerful exposure for startups.

TechBBQ

Exhibit your ideas and products in the TechBBQ showcasing area, right next to other state-of-the-art technologies and the leading corporations in your industry. You and your team will have a full event day where you’ll be able to talk with hundreds of investors, corporations, scale-ups, and influential innovators. Show the world your company and get the exceptional opportunity to find yourself a new partner, customer, employer, or investor.

Apply now to bring your A-game for the day that might take your startup to the next level! – all at no cost to you!

Nordic Startup Awards

Nordic Startup Awards is part of the Global Startup Awards which is the biggest independent startup ecosystem competition with the mission to find, recognize, and connect the future-shapers of the digital age from all around the globe.

Arctic15:

Arctic15 is the most effective matchmaking startup event in Northern Europe. The focus is on making deals and quality networking. The 2-day event brings together a focused international crowd of startups, investors, corporates, media and influencers.

15 Tracks are focused on various industries, technologies and topics ranging from Digital Health and AI to Social Impact and Scaling. Industry players can use the time efficiently and gather under one roof. The core of it all is one-on-one meetings in Deal Room.

The event is organized by ArcticStartup, a startup media covering Nordics and Baltics since 2007.

EU-Startups Summit 2019

The EU-Startups Summit 2019 gather up to 1,200 founders, startup enthusiasts, corporates, angel investors, VCs, and media from across Europe.

The two-day event is a great opportunity for networking and a meeting point for aspiring entrepreneurs and investors who are aiming to build international tech companies. We’ll have fireside chats with internationally successful founders, great networking opportunities (with a dedicated networking app), workshops, and an exciting pitch competition on the main stage with 15 startup teams – selected from almost 1,000 applicants

Web Summit PITCH 2020

The PITCH competition takes place at one of the world’s leading tech conferences: Web Summit, where 135 startups will get the chance of a lifetime, pitching in front of panels of distinguished investors, influential media, and global partners.

However, only startups exhibiting at Web Summit are eligible for the competition. PITCH is open to startups exhibiting at Web Summit that have received under €3 million in funding to date and have not had a discernible change in business model in the previous three years.

Generally the event taking place on November 2nd-5th. It is based in Lisbon, Portugal.

 Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2020

If you’re running CleanTech startup, this is the competition for you. The Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge is one of the world’s largest competitions in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship. Green start-ups from all over the world can submit their promising sustainable business plans. The winner will receive €500,000 to further develop the product or service, and to bring it to market. The runner-up will receive €200,000  and the three other finalists receive €100,000 each.

Founded in 2007 and inspired by Bill Clinton, the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is probably the best place for sustainable entrepreneurs to get financial backup.

Competition is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Prize value range about 500,000 for winner, €200,000 for the runner-up and €100,000 the finalist.

BBVA Open Talent 2020

Dubbed as the world’s biggest fintech startup competition, BBVA Open Talent was born in an attempt by the Spanish bank to find the most innovative technology solutions to shine a light on emerging projects capable of transforming the financial sector. It is a form of open collaboration that allows us to continue creating opportunities for the talent of now and that of the future.

TBD, take place in Spain and applications process usually takes place in October. Winners are offered with the prize of worth : €50,000.

Webit.Festival Europe 

Webit’s flagship competition is called Founders Games, and represents an investment platform for matchmaking between 150 hand-picked startups from all over Europe with investors, corporates and media. All startups receive a free expo table, free festival tickets, and get to pitch in front of some of the world’s top angel investors, VC and corporate ventures. And this year, they’ll have Mark Cuban sitting in the front row. Prize: €200,000 seed investment.

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Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge 2019 

This Paris-based competition is focused on early-stage projects and startups which use an advanced technology to solve an industrial, societal or environmental challenge within 12 different industries: Aeronautics, Data & AI, Digital Health, Energy, Environment, Food & Agriculture, Global Health, Industrial Biotech, Industry 4.0, New Materials, Mobility, New Space and Wellbeing. Prize: €100,000 in equity-free funding, plus one startup from each of the different tracks will receive €15,000.

Latitude59’s Pitch Competition

 Latitude59 is the flagship tech event of the Baltics. Enjoy the Baltic atmosphere while participating in their pitch competition for early-stage startups, where the top 10 teams get a one-day boot camp to prepare for the pitch on stage, where they would compete for €10 000 equity free cash. In addition, the conference is host to three more pitching competitions supported by Startup Fukuoka, Superangel and Nordic Angel Program.

PIRATE Summit “Walk-the-Plank” Pitch Competition

If you are in Cologne in June, don’t miss the Pirate Summit. And if you are are looking for funding, be sure to sign up for their pitching competition where you’ll have three minutes to pitch in front of a bunch of world-class investors, or as they call them, a sea of hungry sharks. Prize: a fully-paid trip to San Francisco and London or Berlin, along with a 1-on-1 meeting with the best investors in town.

Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2019 

As one of the world’s largest sustainable entrepreneurship competitions, the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is the perfect destination if your startup is addressing environmental problems. Every year in Amsterdam, a crowd of investors and environmental experts go through thousands of innovative green ideas, and only 5 get to pitch before them. Prize: €500,000, plus six months of expert coaching and help bringing your idea to market.

Bits & Pretzels 

Each year hundreds of startups gather in Munich to meet, partner up, exhibit, and have fun. But if you want to compete for the Pretzel Award, get your VC, angel, or business incubator to nominate you and then if you are one of 100 finalists, you will get a chance to pitch your idea in front of 2,500 attendees. This year’s motto is: “Show, don’t tell” and the focus is on the product or service. All this while having a beer at Oktoberfest.

Slush 2019 

Slush hosts two startup competitions, Slush 100 Pitching Competition and the Skolar Award. The Slush 100 competition features the 100 best seed-stage companies on stage at Slush, whose founders get to pitch their idea in front of investors, media, and potential partners.  The Skolar award brings together the brightest minds on the planet, targeting postdoc researchers, who have 3 minutes to present their research proposal and compete for a €100,000 grant.

South Summit Startup Competition 2019 

The Madrid-based competition is supported by the south summit Fund and it gives the opportunity to 100 startups finalists to have a 1-on-1 meetings with corporates and investors of their interest, a mentoring program, Bootcamp, media coverage and the possibility to win between €100,000 and €3 million. In case you don’t make the final round, the South Summit is an excellent networking event with top-notch speakers.

TNW Pitch Competition 

If your startup works in any of the following verticals: Sustainability, Health & Wellness, Mobility & Smart Cities, FinTech, Data Management & Security, Enterprise Software, Marketplace & Retail, Energy, HR & Workforce Management or Food & Agritech, then TNW’s Pitch Battle is the competition for you. 50 finalists pitch their startups in front of investors, get invaluable exposure and some funding. This year, they are also hosting the Chivas Venture Final – a $1 million competition to find Europe’s most promising social startup.

Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards :

Established as a joint initiative by Cartier, Women’s Forum, McKinsey & Company and INSEAD business school, the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards is a competition open to women of any nationality, sector of industry and country. 21 finalists, representing the top 3 projects from each of the 7 regions of the world, will receive personalized coaching, access to workshops, knowledge sessions, and networking events, media exposure, and get to participate in a 6-Day Social Entrepreneurship Executive Program by INSEAD, while the first 7 laureates will receive $100,000 in prize money.

 South Summit Startup Competition

South Summit Startup competition has already become a benchmark for Innovation which brings together the 100 most innovative startups in the South of Europe. Based in Madrid and Mexico city, the summit has hosted 3,800 projects 36% of which were of Spanish origin and 64% of international origin. More than 650 investors gathered last year where Startups from previous editions have raised +2.8 billion dollars with success stories such as Cabify, Typeform, Drivy, Glovo, and Spotahome.

The event takes place on October 6th-8th in Madrid and it offers $1,000,000 in funding and also 100 finalist have the opportunity to have one-on-one meetings with investors.

The Lovie Awards 2020

If you are running a website, this might be for you. The Lovie Awards Competition is open to all organisations and individuals involved in designing, building, managing, maintaining, marketing, or promoting Websites, Online Advertising, Internet Video, Apps, Mobile, Podcasts & Voice, and Social content for European business, consumer, or general audiences.

Lovie Awards happens in December in London and won’t provide much benefit on the monetary side to the startups.

So this our list of B plan competitions in Europe, if we are missing something valuable feel free to comment below. We surely add in our list!

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