The Startup World Cup, a $ 1m global startup competition, is back in Bulgaria and together with the Global Tech Summit – the leading technology event in Eastern Europe – they team up for another exciting race – looking for the next World Champion among the top startups from the whole world. In addition to finding great startups, the mission of the Startup World Cup is to support the development and growth of innovative ecosystems in regions across the globe and connect them to a global innovation network.
The grand finale of the Startup World Cup includes prominent figures from the high-tech community, such as Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder), Reed Hoffman (LinkedIn CEO), Marcelo Clare (SoftBank Group COO) and many more. The Startup World Cup featured veteran investors in the high ranks like Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, NEA, Techstars, Intel Capital, M12, 500 Startups, GE Ventures, DFJ, IBM Ventures, Social Capital, Index Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures, and investors from all over the world judging global and regional finals.
Startups from Bulgaria and the region that are interested in the global ecosystem, mentoring from global investors and significant prize money are encouraged to apply for the regional competition in Sofia, part of the Startup World Cup chain.
The jury in the Bulgarian edition includes Momchil Elenkov (Viber), Vesela Kalacheva (Executive Director of BAIT), Sinisa Djukic (COO of Bosch Software Innovations), Svetlin Nakov (SoftUni) and other experts from the technology sector, media, entrepreneurs and top managers.
The final in Bulgaria will be held on December 10th within the Global Tech Summit in the National Palace of Culture.
Applicants can submit their proposals by December 6, 2019 inclusive, using the Startup World Cup Sofia form directly and via email.
All regional race winners will participate in the Grand Final in San Francisco on May 22, 2020.
Prior to the Grand Final in San Francisco, winners of regional competitions in Europe will also participate in the Continental Championships with the chance to win a $ 500,000 investment prize from local sponsors.
Thousands of start-ups from around the world competed in the 2019 race. Winners from 36 regional events across six continents threw their startups at the San Francisco Grand Finale in May 2019. Abivin, a Vietnam startup, beat all competitors and took home the $ 1,000,000 investment prize. Abivin uses artificial intelligence to manage its logistics optimization platform. Canadian startup Klue, which provides competitive intelligence to corporate sales teams, came in second. US-based Sonavi Labs, which develops smart stethoscopes, is in third place.
Prior to the San Francisco finals, the winners of European regional competitions competed in the Continental Championship, the Startup World Cup Summit in Prague. The winner of this race, Sweden’s Mimbly, won an investment prize of $ 500,000 from local sponsors, Up21 and Air Ventures. Mimbly has developed a solution for clean technologies for wastewater from washing machines, saving money, water and reducing micro-plastic contamination.
Regional and global sponsors
The local sponsor of the Startup World Cup is the Innovation Center, which aims to help startups from the region develop in the United States.
The World Cup Startup World Cup is supported by a large group of international companies including Microsoft, SEGA Sammy, EY, Deloitte, Orrick, Wiley Rein and others. Sponsors share the mission to find the most promising startups and connect them with regional and global thinkers, corporate partners and investors.
About Startup World Cup
The Startup World Cup is one of the largest startup competitions worldwide with over 36 regional locations. Event organizer is Pegasus Tech Ventures, a leading technology investor. The purpose of the fund is to build a wide global network of corporate partners, venture investors and start-ups.