Joining a pitch competition or innovation award can translate into a lot of benefits for early-stage startups. For example: Increased visibility, valuable feedback, media exposure, prize money/value, and good networking opportunities. Of course, bringing home the trophy is a bonus. If your startup is looking for a stage to kickstart its debut, here are 10 startup competitions in Europe worth checking out.

Web Summit (5-8 November 2018) – The Pitch competition of Web Summit is open to any ALPHA or BETA startup exhibiting at Web Summit and gives them an opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of investors and journalists from around the world.The conference has a reputation for drawing an influential audience of tech insiders, investors, media, and startups and is happening in Lisbon, every November. The 2017 edition of their pitch competition saw a cash prize of €50,000 and a place on a mentoring programme at Daimler AG.

BUSINESS-MEDIA PLATFORM COOLJONNY is the place where you can sell, purchase, or advertise any types of services in any city of your country. CoolJonny will gather 20 chosen starups applied and give them the task of developing the platforms of the same type for different countries including things like design etc. The winners will get free acceleration progrmas on how to build an online marketplaces with all the secret tips and they also will recieve over €100,000 prize.

Startup Battlefield (Deadline: March 22, 2018) – Startup Battlefield is probably one of the best-known competitions and allows the world’s top early-stage startups to compete for the Disrupt Cup, a €50,000 prize, and exposure to key industry investors. TechCrunch hosts the Battlefield a few times a year, once at each of their three Disrupt conferences and also in new and emerging markets.

New Energy Challenge (summer 2018) – The competition is an initiative of Shell in partnership with YES!Delft and Rockstart to recognize and reward the talent of the most extraordinary startups that can shape the transition towards cleaner energy. The program is open to European and Israeli startups with ideas and tools to help the energy sector transition to a low-carbon system. The winner gets a €100,000 convertible loan from Shell Technology Ventures as well as exclusive coaching from Shell experts and access to Shell’s global network.

Get in the ring (30 May – 1 June) – The competition is a featured event of the Global Entrepreneurship Week and has introduced a new unique pitching concept. Startups getting in the ring will battle one on one, during five different rounds, focused on a relevant topic that all investors are interested in. The winner of the National Finals will proceed to the Regional Finals and claim a spot at the International Finals for a chance to compete in front of a jury panel, international investors and a live audience to claim an investment of up to €1,000,000.
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