Do you have an innovative idea and want to get recognition, feedback and financial support? Are you hungry for challenges and passionate to drive business results? Or maybe you just have that entrepreneurial spirit and want to make connections with like-minded people from around the globe.
Take your chance and get the opportunity to get mentorship training for your startup and win some of these attractive prizes to get everything you need to your stairway to business success.
To help you in this process, we compiled a list of opportunities for startups to find the right one for you and get the funding you need for your venture.
1. The Next Step Challenge 2015
Deadline: December 1, 2015 | Apply here
Dates: The program starts on February 1, 2016
Prize: EUR 250,000
Location: Nupark, Denmark
The Next Step Challenge grants ambitious startups the opportunity to become part of the most ambitious accelerator program you might ever encounter. The challenge offers a main prize of EUR 250,000 for the winning startup and makes Next Step Challenge the biggest entrepreneur prize in Europe and in the US. Next Step Challenge is opening a whole new world of opportunities for startup companies within the fields of sound and home integration. Only by being part of the challenge is guaranteed to benefit the participating startups and entrepreneurs. The Challenge will last six months and will take each company through an intensive business development program worth more than EUR 100,000. The program will be individually designed to help transform and mature your startup to unleash its full potential.
2. Jacobs Startup Competition 2016
Deadline: December 13, 2015 | Apply here
Dates: March 11-12, 2016
Location: Bremen, Germany
The Jacobs Startup Competition is taking place in the international and English-speaking environment of Jacobs University Bremen on the 11th and 12th of March 2016. JSC welcomes students from all around the world with promising business ideas and will help you grow your entrepreneurial ideas. After working on your ideas for several weeks you will get to present your ideas in front of a jury at our final event and compete with the other teams for cash prizes. If you have a distinct idea and want to get recognition, feedback, financial support, or you just have that entrepreneurial drive and want to make connections to like-minded people from around the world – JSC is for you.
3. Hult Prize Challenge 2016
Deadline: December 18, 2015 | Apply here
Cost: Teams will be responsible for covering their travel costs
Prize: US$ 1 million in seed funding
Dates: March 11-12, 2016
Locations: Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai and on-line
Win $1,000,000 to fund your startup. The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social entrepreneurs, and it gathers and encourages the brightest entrepreneurial minds from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues and biggest challenges with innovative ideas for sustainable start-up enterprises. The annual initiative is the largest crowdsourcing platform for social good in the world and one of the leading forces for good in the planet. The Annual Hult Prize winners can make their ideas becomereality with the help of USD1 million in seed funding. Through crowd-sourcing, training, mentorship and funding, the Hult Prize seeks to build and launch the next wave of social entrepreneurs.
4. Virgin Media Accelerator 2016
Deadline: January 8, 2016 | Apply here
Duration: 13 weeks
Dates: March 27, 2016 – June 23, 2016
Location: London, UK
The Virgin Media Accelerator, powered by Techstars, will launch in 2016 and will open the doors to companies using connectivity to impact the lives of millions and make good things happen. Over three months, ten companies will work in the heart of London with an extensive group of mentors from the Techstars, Virgin Media, and Liberty Global networks. Solutions should be “everyday simple, people-shaped, and life-sized, solving a real need or desire in a human way.” Applicants working on all connected technologies — the Internet of Things, telecom infrastructures, customer data and experience, connected homes, connected goods and services, interactive home experiences, connected business services, home health and wellness, or connectivity for social good — are encouraged to apply.
5. The Next Sphere Challenge 2016: win €6,000 from NN, Inc.
Deadline: January 31, 2016 | Apply here
Prize: 6,000 Euros in cash prizes and their idea implemented by NN Inc
Eligibility: 18 years old or have written parental consent to compete
Big ideas find their place with the cutting edge NN Inc., who are on the hunt for entrepreneurial creatives – or creative entrepreneurs! If you’re an innovator intrigued by finding new uses for everyday products, take a chance to win the €3000-grand prize, €2000-secondprize and €1000-third prize. NN, Inc is ‘inspired by iNNovation’- They love creativity together with a good dose of entrepreneurial spirit. What they are looking for is talent from around the world to come up with new, innovative ideas for the use of precision balls. Submit your idea now for the chance to win cash prizes and see your idea come of life!
6. The 2016 Startup Challenge
Deadline: March 14, 2016 | Apply here
Date: April 1, 2016
Location: Monterey, California
The Startup Challenge regional new venture competition held in Monterey, California is an opportunity for prospective entrepreneurs, startups and emerging companies to showcase their ideas and business concepts. The Challenge connects regional entrepreneurs to other entrepreneurs, funders, consultants, support programs, regional and local angels and venture capitalists. The Challenge is a tool that strengthens regional startups and emerging businesses by providing entrepreneurs with the best foundation possible. The mission of The Startup Challenge is to foster economic development and job growth by encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs to start and grow new and innovative businesses.
7. Startupper of the Year Challenge
Deadline: January 31, 2016 | Apply here
Eligibility: The contestant must be a citizen of the country where its application is submitted in order to create or develop its project there.
A unique opportunity for start-ups! Ideas deserve support, especially great ones. And promising ideas deserve a helping hand. The Startupper of the Year challenge by total is inviting young candidates from selected African countries who are currently preparing a business plan or are in the early stages of creating their own business. Regardless of the type of business or activity, as long as they share the characteristics common to creative start-ups: innovation, competitiveness, growth boosting and job creation, they encourage you to participate.
8. 2016 Arch Grants Global Startup Spring Competition
Deadline: December 31, 2015 | Apply here
Finalist Pitch Days: January 7, February 4, and April 7, 2016
Incubation starts: June, 2016
Prize: $50,000 equity-free, cash grants and pro bono support services
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
The Arch Grants Global Startup Competition is an international competition that awards $50,000 equity-free, cash grants and pro-bono support services to the most innovative and scalable startups that are willing to locate their business in St. Louis, Missouri. Arch Grants seek to attract entrepreneurs who are already located in St. Louis or are willing to relocate here. Basing your business in St. Louis is a prerequisite for receiving the grant and all of our current entrepreneurs are investing their time in making the St. Louis startup scene even stronger. The industry-agnostic Global Startup Competition is held twice per year, with grant disbursement occurring once in the spring and once in the fall. Arch Grants seeks to fund innovative technologies, products, and services wrapped within a scalable business.
9. Coloplast Global Graduate Programme 2016
Deadline: January 15, 2016 | Apply here
Eligibility: recent business, accounting/finance and engineering graduates
Participating countries: China, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and USA
Start dates: latest September 2016
Kick-start your career with the leading MedTech company Coloplast! Are you a recent business, accounting/finance or engineering graduate? Do you have a strong performance track record in terms of grades and experience? Are you hungry and passionate to drive business results? If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then join the Coloplast Global Graduate Programme and be one of fifteen candidates who will begin a three-year international journey divided in two eighteen-month rotation programs at Coloplast headquarters in Denmark and a subsidiary country, giving you the opportunity to develop your skills in real jobs across our business units.
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