11.05.2018
Austria-wide start-up competition begins
- #glaubandich Challenge: start-up tour throughout Austria begins on 24 May
- 9 pitches in all provinces
- Search for start-up of the year 2018
Starting today, you can apply to take part in Austria’s largest start-up competition. Erste Bank and Sparkassen, Trending Topics, WKO Gründerservice and Puls4 will embark on the search for the start-up of the year. In the coming weeks, the #glaubandich Challenge (#believeinyourself Challenge) will make stops in all provinces and invite the nine best start-ups from the regions to Vienna for the crowning ceremony on 25 June. The winner of the #glaubandich Challenge will receive EUR 10,000, a starting place in the casting for the Puls4 start-up show “2 Minuten 2 Millionen”, a public relations package worth EUR 10,000 from Trending Topics and a place in the exclusive Startup Executive Academy 2018 of Silicon Castles in Salzburg. The winner will also be designated “Start-up of the Year 2018”.
Application period open
Starting immediately, start-ups from all of Austria can apply to take part in the #glaubandich Challenge. The start-up pitches will take place from 24 May in every federal province; any start-up can participate that meets the following criteria:
- The start-up idea must be market-ready and at least one functioning prototype must exist. In the case of services, the process for providing these must already exist.
- The product must solve a relevant problem or must be an innovation.
- The start-up is not permitted to have been in existence for more than five years, the product is not permitted to have been on the market for more than five years, and a plausible business plan must exist.
“We are looking for cool ideas, real problem-solvers and especially innovative solutions for socially relevant themes,” said Thomas Schaufler, Board Member for Retail at Erste Bank. Erste Bank has been supporting serious founders of new businesses and start-ups for years. Apart from numerous services relating to the establishment of a company, the Sparkassengruppe also provides advice on financial aid schemes, business plans, financing and similar topics at its ‘Gründercenter’ in each of the provinces. “Alone in Vienna, we finance two new businesses at our Gründercenter every day,” said Schaufler.
A prominent jury of business angels, venture capitalists and start-up organisations preselect those start-ups that qualify for the pitches in the provinces from among all start-ups in the competition. The tour throughout Austria closes on 25 June with a final grand event in Vienna and the selection of the “Start-up of the Year 2018”. At this event, the nine winners from the provinces and the one start-up chosen by the audience by online voting compete against each other.
To register and to obtain further information, please contact:
“We are looking for cool ideas, real problem-solvers and especially innovative solutions for socially relevant themes,” said Thomas Schaufler, Board Member for Retail at Erste Bank. Erste Bank has been supporting serious founders of new businesses and start-ups for years. Apart from numerous services relating to the establishment of a company, the Sparkassengruppe also provides advice on financial aid schemes, business plans, financing and similar topics at its ‘Gründercenter’ in each of the provinces. “Alone in Vienna, we finance two new businesses at our Gründercenter every day,” said Schaufler.
A prominent jury of business angels, venture capitalists and start-up organisations preselect those start-ups that qualify for the pitches in the provinces from among all start-ups in the competition. The tour throughout Austria closes on 25 June with a final grand event in Vienna and the selection of the “Start-up of the Year 2018”. At this event, the nine winners from the provinces and the one start-up chosen by the audience by online voting compete against each other.
To register and to obtain further information, please contact: