The 6th sTARTUp Day business festival is welcoming applications for a pitching contest with a prize pool of over 350k.
The competition is open to startups globally. The applicants should have a functioning product or service, a strong team, and be ready to raise investments. The Top 40 startups will have the opportunity to showcase their company on the sTARTUp Day 2022 stage to over 3000 festival guests.
According to Anu Oks, Managing Director of Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN), startups have adjusted to the post-Covid-19 economic situation. “We are receiving an increasing number of new deals. Our role at EstBAN is to carry out a thorough analysis and identify the best investment opportunities for investors. The main criteria we look at are results ‒ like sales and product-market fit,” she explains.
“In addition to that, we assess scalability, that is, whether the team and business model has the ambition to go global. It’s also good if the startup has a diverse and international team. This is the formula of an outstanding startup that makes angel investors’ eyes light up,” she adds. EstBAN is putting together an angel syndicate to invest up to €200k in one team from the sTARTUp Day 2022 deal flow.
.Cocoon Ventures will award one startup with a syndicate investment of up to €100k. “Our main goal is to support startup founders who are interested in self-development. Therefore our investment includes both financial investment and participation in a year-long self-development and mentorship program .Cocoon,” explains Aleksander Tõnnisson, investor and lead partner at .Cocoon Ventures. The prize fund also includes €10k equity-free cash from Swedbank and other prizes from supporters.
In 2021, the sTARTUp Day pitching contest attracted a record number of 330 applicants from 51 countries, with the Lithuanian augmented reality startup VSight scoring the victory. Previous participants include many successful startups, such as Fractory, Jeff App, Stebby, etc.
Applications to sTARTUp Day 2022 pitching are open on the festival website.
sTARTUp Day business festival takes place in Tartu. It is co-organized by the City of Tartu, University of Tartu, Tartu Science Park, Contriber, Tartu Biotechnology Park, Tartu Business Advisory Services, Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, and Swedbank.
Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) unites angel investors in Estonia. EstBAN syndicates have invested almost €2.7M in companies, such as VSight, Jeff App, Fractory, TranslateWise, ATOM Mobility, Adact, and others.
