1. When can I apply to join the competition?
Venture Cup IDEA is normally open to registration between September and November, and when the competition closes in December you may get continuous feedback on your business idea.
Read more about our competition IDEA here and click on the button “Join now” to get to our digital platform where you can submit your entry to the competition.
If you can’t see a button, this means the competition is not open for submission at this time.
Venture Cup STARTUP is normally open to registration between February and April, and when the competition closes in May, you may get continuous feedback on your business idea.
Read more about our competition STARTUP here and click on the button “Join now” to get to our digital platform where you can submit your entry to the competition.
If you can’t see a button, this means the competition is not open for submission at this time.
Venture Cup IDEA runs during the fall and Venture Cup Startup runs during the spring. For exact dates please visit the competition page.
2. I want to compete but some of the information in my business idea is confidential, and Venture Cup’s competition is open for anyone. How do I do?
When submitting an entry to our competition you can choose to write some information in a box called "Hidden" information, which means that the information you write here is just that, hidden. The text you add in this text box will only be visible for your team members and selected people from Venture Cup's professional network; the jury, the feedback writers and the Venture Cup staff. Everyone that has access to read the hidden information have all signed confidentiality agreements.
The feedback writers are working professionals within fields that are in some way connected to entrepreneurship. These are the people who will give you feedback on your business idea through the digital platform, and therefore needs to be able to have access to your idea in its entirety.
3. Are all type of ideas welcome?
Yes, all kinds of ideas can compete in Venture Cups competitions. Depending on what stage your business is in, you compete in either Venture Cup IDEA or Venture Cup STARTUP. If you are unsure which competition is best suited for you, you can read more about the competitions here, and contact your nearest regional office if you have further questions.
Venture Cup does not support ideas that in any way goes against Swedish law, and reserves the right to disqualify any ideas that does not comply to Swedish law.
4. Which region do I compete in?
In Venture Cup IDEA and STARTUP you compete in one of four regions depending on which county you live in. If you compete as a team you compete in the region where the team leader resides. The team leader is appointed jointly by your team and registered as a leader when you upload your entry on the digital platform.
Don’t forget to register all members of you team on the digital platform when you submit your entry. All team members need to create their individual profiles to be registered as a competitor.
5. How do I know to which region I belong?
Region North
Västernorrland, Jämtland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten County
Region East
Stockholm, Södermanland, Östergötland, Örebro, Västmanland, Dalarna and Gävleborg County
Region West
Jönköping, Halland, Västra Götaland and Värmland County
Region South
Kronoberg, Kalmar, Blekinge and Skåne County
6. Can I submit more than one idea?
Absolutely, you can compete with as many ideas as you want, during the same round of competition. You register each idea as a separate entry in the competition.
The only requirement is that your idea/s meets the Venture Cup competition rules. You can read more about the rules for the competition when you’ve registered a profile at the digital platform.
7. Do I have to compete as a team or can I compete individually?
You can compete individually or as a team, which option you choose is totally up to you. However, we recommend our contestants to team up, since two minds usually work better than one.
If you participate as a team, all team members must be registered on the digital platform when you upload your entry.
Do not forget to add the co-creators!
8. Should I write in Swedish or English when competing?
It is possible to submit you entry, and pitch, in either Swedish or English. Which of the two languages you choose to use will not affect your chances in the competition.
9. What is the jury looking at when they evaluate the entries?
You can find all the information in the document marked Criteria further down under the Brief tab, when you’re signed in to the digital platform.
10. Where do I sign up to join the contest?
To compete you have to create a profile at the digital platform, and then submit your entry by clicking on the button Contribute under the tab Brief, when you’ve selected the competition available.
When you register an account to enter the competition an e-mail will be sent to you which you need to confirm to be able to complete the registration.
Please observe that the confirmation e-mail sometimes ends up in the spam filter, so have a look there if you can´t find it in your inbox.
Once you upload your entry, before the deadlines, you will receive feedback on your business idea and are able to follow the competition.
If you submit your idea early during the submission period, your chances of getting feedback before the deadline increases. Once you receive feedback you will have the chance to update and improve your entry to your liking, all the way up to the deadline for submission. it is the latest updated version of your entry that will be the one which will be taken into consideration in the competition.
11. What can you win?
We have four main prize categories in Venture Cup's competition STARTUP:
Impact Maker
Game Changer
Best Traction
Beyond Academic
There is also a chance to win the extra award The Crowd Award which is voted by the audience live at the Regional Finals, as well as at the National Final.
There will be more information at the digital platform once the competition STARTUP is open.
12. Who may compete in Venture Cup?
For full terms and conditions for participation in the competition, see the rules for the current competition in the attached documents when you are logged in at the digital platform.
Below are some of the common criteria one needs to fulfill in order to participate in Venture Cup:
● You must have a connection to Sweden; either reside here, study, work or similar.
● Business ideas in companies with existing operations and sales may not participate in the competition, except for the idea spun off into a new company (read our full rules for details).
13. How is Venture Cup organized?
Venture Cup is a national, nonprofit organization with offices all across Sweden. The competitions STARTUP and IDEA which Venture Cup is organizing are divided into four geographical regions; South, West, East and North. In the National Final of STARTUP, the finalists from all regions compete against each other.
In addition to these regions, Venture Cup has sister organizations in Norway and Denmark, amongst others. Please note that Venture Cup Sweden and Venture Cup in other countries are separate organizations.
14. How does Venture Cup deal with confidential information and immaterial rights surrounding the competition?
Venture Cup is a non-profil organization, and sees no gain in taking part of the contestant's business ideas for any other reason than the competition itself.
We respect all companies immaterial rights, and expect the same from our contestants, network and partners who may use our material. We ask that anyone refrains from posting irrelevant comments on our digital platform, or any distribution of modified material belonging to Venture Cup Sverige.
With that said, we warmly welcome anyone who is interested in helping us to spred knowledge and information about Venture Cup and our competitions. We ask that you refer to the information directly from our website, digital platform or official social media channels.
Please keep in mind when you submit your entry into our competitions that public use of copyrighted material is an infringement to the copyright owners rights.
15. Who is on the jury?
The jury consists of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry experts and more. The jury has great knowledge and extensive experience in starting and running businesses and making them grow. If you are curious to know more, you can read more about the jury here.
For the Regional Final of STARTUP, the jury is divided into four regional groups, where the jury members are often locals of each respective region. For the National Final, when the finalists are competing nationally, the jury consists of a mix of members from all regions, with a slightly larger representation of the region in which the National Final is held the current year. The National Final is held in different regions from one year to another.
16. How does the jury process work?
IDEA
When deadline have passed all ideas will be submitted to the screening jury. Through the screening process the top 50 ideas will be selected and furthermore evaluated by the jury. The jury appoints the national Top 20 list.
STARTUP
All entries are evaluated through a screeningprocess where the screening jury decide which 10 will be nominated in the regional finals. The nominated startups will present and pitch their startup during the jury meeting where the winners will be decided. The winners will not be revealed until the regional finals.
17. How do I keep myself updated about the contest and all the activities in Venture Cup?
The easiest way to keep yourself updated is by registering to our newsletter, where you get information about everything that happens in your region. You can sign up here.
18. I have previously competed in Venture Cup, can I compete again?
Of course you can compete again if you have a new business idea.
If you want to compete again with an idea that you have submitted before, it depends if this idea has previously been noted by the jury. If you have been nominated for the Regional Final with this idea, or pitched the idea to the jury before, then you may not compete with the same idea again. However, if you did not make it though the first screening, you are welcome to submit the same idea again. Contact your regional office if you are unsure!
19. What is Venture Cup’s goal?
Venture Cup's goal is to be the obvious choice for everyone with a new business idea in Sweden, to turn to for a process of guidence, feedback and networking opportunities in the startup phase of their business.
Venture Cup exists as a tool within the innovation system, for entrepreneurs.
We hope to be a key factor which contributes to the economical growth in Sweden by stimulating the creation of new businesses with a sustainable growth. Though a competitive process, combines with feedback, networking opportunities and inspiration, Venture Cup supports entrepreneurs with business ideas in the development of becoming successful businesses. Venture Cup helps entrepreneurs to grow during their venture and contributes to raising the interest for entrepreneurship in Sweden.
20. How was Venture Cup founded?
Venture Cup was founded in 1998 by McKinsey & Company, together with Chalmers and Göteborg University, who saw a need to support entrepreneurs and the construction of new sustainable growth.
Amongst Venture Cup's former contestants you will find companies such as Hövding, Naked JuiceBar, LensWay and Parkster.
21. We have a business today, can we still compete in Venture Cup?
It depends on your company. Venture Cup’s purpose is to help new business ideas in the early stages. Therefore, we think it is an unfair advantage for established companies with a strong economy and good growth competing against ideas that have not yet started their business or are at a very early stage. You cannot participate in the competition if your business have received more than 100,000 SEK (for IDEA) or 1,000,000 SEK (for STARTUP) in funding or revenue. Loans, economical support and grants are not to be included in the calculation.
22. What counts as funding and revenue?
By financial support and grants, we refer to:
- Scholarships
- Prize money from other competitions
- Business support from VINNOVA
- Innovation vouchers and grants
Funding through sales to customers is something we see as a positive thing, but until the time when you register your competition entry at the digital plattform the revenue cannot have exceeded the total amounts mentioned above, for each competition.
23. What counts as feedback?
All ideas that meet competition standards will get feedback written by people from our professional network. The ideas that do not live up to the competition standards will get feedback in the form of bits of advice on how to develop your idea and how to pitch it to reach the next level.
By competition standard, we refer to that the entry is complete, is following the rules stated (read more about this at the digital plattform), and is described in a way which makes it possible for the jury to evaluate it according to the set criteria for the competition.
Read more about out competition criteria at the digital plattform when the competitions are open to submission.
24. When will I receive feedback?
Ideas that are submitted to the competition will receive feedback throughout the competition process.
Ideas submitted in the last two weeks of the submission period may receive feedback after the competition has closed, due to the high workload on our professional network who volunteer after working hours.
25. Are there any benefits of early submission?
The advantage of submitting the idea early on in the competition, is that you have the chance to get more response to your idea through feedback, but also by increasing your chances to catch someone in the network's interest, e g stakeholders or other potentially important contacts in Venture Cup's network.
The process is developed to add the most value to those who submit early since they are given a chance to take action on the given feedback, develop their idea and get more feedback on the updated version of their entry. It is the final version that's on the platform at the time of the deadline, that will count as your entry into the competition and the version the sceening group and jury will take into consideration.
26. What could I do to get more feedback?
1. Submit an idea that complies with the competition standard at the digital platform.
More info on the competition standard, see question 23.
2. Tag your idea at the digital platform with the topics that are related to your idea. You will find the tags at the bottom of the registration page for the competition. With relevant tags for your business idea, it will be easier for people in the professional network with expertise within that area to find and give feedback on your idea.
3. Promote your participation in the competition through e g social media posts, sharing by email and giving comments/feedback on your fellow competitors' ideas at the digital platform and refer back to your submitted idea.
4. Invite people from your professional network to participate in the Venture Cup community by them giving you feedback on your idea. The registration of a profile at the digital platform is simple, and it will only take a few minutes before they can start writing you feedback.
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