Startup Competitions
Looking to pitch your business idea at a startup competition? Check out the list of comprehensive startup competitions in Canada, USA, and globally. Are you competing at any of these startup competitions? Let us know!
These competitions are the perfect platform for exposure, funding, and mentorship. If have a Startup Competition that you would like to share please submit here.
| Startup Competitions | Location | Deadline | Link |
| FoundersBeta Top 100 | Global | TBD | https://www.foundersbeta.com/top-100/ |
| Dobson Cup Competition McGill University $200K | Montreal | January | https://www.mcgill.ca/dobson/entrepreneurship-programs/mcgill-dobson-cup |
| Startup of the Year | USA | January | https://www.startupofyear.com/ |
| Viva Technology Startup Challenges and Awards | Paris | January | https://vivatechnology.com/challenges |
| Heartland Challenge $100K Global Student Competition | Global | January | https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/programs/heartland-challenge.php |
| Women Innovation Summit Pitch $100K | Toronto | January | https://dmz.torontomu.ca/women-innovation-summit/ |
| Utah Tech Week Pitch by Convoi Ventures | Utah | January | https://lu.ma/utwpitch |
| Bridging Innovation Pitch Competition | Atlanta | January | https://itsmfleaders.org/bridging-innovation-pitch-competition/ |
| Shark Tank Auditions | Las Vegas | January | https://abc.com/shows/shark-tank/open-call |
| Web Summit Pitch | Lisbon | January | https://websummit.com/startups/pitch |
| Proteus Innovation Competition | Ontario | January | https://proteusic.com/ |
| GW New Venture Competition George Washington University | Washington | January | https://newventurecompetition.gwu.edu/ |
| Ontario Agri-Tech Pitch Competition University of Guelph | Guelph | January | https://www.uoguelph.ca/research/innovation/ontario-agri-tech-pitch-competition |
| Tech Chill Fifty Founders Battle $10K EUR | Riga, Latvia | January | https://www.techchill.co/fifty-founders-battle |
| EU Startups Summit | Valletta, Malta | January | https://www.eu-startups.com/eu-startups-summit-2024/ |
| TNW Pitch Battle Competition | Amsterdam | January | https://thenextweb.com/conference/startups |
| Upstart Concordia University | Montreal | January | https://gcesconcordia.com/upstart |
| 5 Across Pitch Competition for Kentucky Entrepreneurs | Kentucky | January | https://awesomeinc.org/events/5across/ |
| Web Summit Rio Pitch | Rio de Janeiro | January | https://rio.websummit.com/startups/pitch/ |
| Thiel Fellowship $100K | Global | year round | https://thielfellowship.org/ |
| Elevator Pitch Competition Global $240K | Hong Kong | January 8 | https://epic.hkstp.org |
| WMF Startup Competition | Italy | TBD | https://en.wemakefuture.it/call/startup-competition/ |
| Cozad New Venture Challenge University of Illinois | Champaign | January 28 | https://tec.illinois.edu/programs/cozad |
| Burgess New Venture Challenge, Michigan State University | East Lansing | January 29 | https://entrepreneurship.msu.edu/burgessnvc |
| Startup Global Pitch Competition Startup Canada | Canada | TBD | https://www.startupcan.ca/explore/startup-global/ |
| Schulich Startups York University | Toronto | TBD | https://schulich.yorku.ca/schulich-startups-program/ |
| Impact Canada Challenges | Canada | TBD | https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges |
| Panasci Competition University of Buffalo | Buffalo | TBD | https://www.buffalo.edu/entrepreneurship/programs/competitions/panasci.html |
| Hult Prize | Global | January | https://www.hultprize.org/how-it-works |
| FemSTEM Women healthcare entrepreneurs | Toronto | January 12 – 28 | https://h2i.utoronto.ca/resource/femstem/ |
| Young Entrepreneur Scholarship UofT $7.5K | Toronto | January 14 | https://utsc.utoronto.ca/mgmt/young-entrepreneur-scholarship-yes |
| PITCH With a Twist | Mississauga | January 15 | https://icubeutm.ca/twist/ |
| MassChallenge | Boston/Global | January 18 | https://masschallenge.org |
| Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award | Canada | January 15 | https://www.womenofinfluence.ca/ |
| Canada's Total Mom Pitch | Canada | January 19 | https://www.totalmompitch.ca/ |
| WISE WeInvest: Venture Capital Incubator for Women | USA | January 24 | https://www.northeasternwise.com/ |
| Open AI Startup Fund | Global | January 26 | https://openai.fund/news/converge-2 |
| T-Mobile's T Challenge | Global/Germany | January 26 | https://telekom-challenge.com/ |
| Hinge's One More Hour: social groups and organizations Gen Z | USA | January 30 | https://hinge.co/onemorehour |
| Rice Business Plan Competition | Global | January 31 | https://rbpc.rice.edu/ |
| Grand Challenges Canada | Canada | January 31 | https://www.grandchallenges.ca/funding-opportunities/ |
| South Summit | Madrid | January 31 | https://www.southsummit.io/startup-competition/ |
| Visionary Pitch Competition | USA | January 31 | https://www.theenterprisecenter.com/initiatives/visionary-pitch-competition |
| Cadence Cash Thrive Grant | USA | January 31 | https://cadencecash.com/grant-program/ |
| Athene Black and Brown Business Summit Pitch Competition | USA | January 31 | https://wdmchamber.org/bbbsummit |
| Skip $10K Kickoff Grant | USA | January 31 | https://helloskip.com/dashboard/opportunity/2024kickoff |
| CAFE Fintech Accelerator For Financial Wellness | USA | January 31 | https://ftcafe.org/apply/ |
| Dell for Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition | USA | TBD | https://www.dell.com/en-us/lp/dellpitch |
| Latinas in Tech Startup Competition | San Francisco | TBD | https://latinasintechsummit.org/startup-competition-2024/ |
| START Summit | Gallen, Switzerland | February | https://www.startglobal.org/start-summit |
| Values and Venture Competition Texas Christian University | Fort Worth | February | https://www.neeley.tcu.edu/Centers/Institute-for-Entrepreneurship-and-Innovation/Values-and-Ventures |
| Midwest Entrepreneurship Case Competition | Indiana | February | https://www.lib.purdue.edu/parrishcasecompetition |
| IDeA Competition University of Windsor | Windsor | February 2 | https://www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/103/idea-competition-2023-2024 |
| Crummer Venture Plan $70K | Florida | February 4 | https://orlandoventureplan.com/ |
| Big Bang! Business Competition University of California | Davis | February 5 | https://innovate.ucdavis.edu/big-bang-competition |
| Heartland Challenge $100K Global Student Competition | Global | February 9 | https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/programs/heartland-challenge.php |
| MIT Water, Food & Agriculture Innovation Prize $30K | Global | February 9 | https://www.mitwaterinnovation.org/apply |
| Startup Columbia University Venture Competition | New York | February 9 | https://entrepreneurship.columbia.edu/startupcolumbia/ |
| EFFERVESCENCE Start-up Pitch Competition $20K Medtech & biotech | Montreal | February 12 | https://effervescencemtl.com/en/competition-start-up-pitch-2024/ |
| Falcons' Fortunes pitch competition $100K by FACIT | Canada | February 12 | https://facit.ca/falcons-fortunes |
| INNOVATEwest Pitch Competition $20K | Vancouver | February 14 | https://innovatewest.tech/grizzly-pursuit/ |
| VenturePack Challenge North Carolina State University | Raleigh | February 18 | https://entrepreneurship.ncsu.edu/events-events/venturepack-challenge/ |
| 1871 WMNtech Pitch Competition $30K | USA | February 18 | https://1871.com/event/wmntech-pitch-competition/ |
| University of Western Entrepreneurial Summer Internship $10K | London Canada | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/internship/ |
| America’s Seed Fund | Alexandria | TBD | https://seedfund.nsf.gov |
| Velocity Pitch Competition | Waterloo | TBD | https://velocityincubator.com/programs/students/pitch-competition/ |
| New Venture Challenge University of Chicago | Chicago | TBD | https://polsky.uchicago.edu/programs-events/new-venture-challenge/ |
| RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition Miami University | Miami | TBD | https://miamioh.edu/fsb/departments/entrepreneurship/focus-areas-initiatives/start-up-venture/new-venture-capstone.html |
| CMU Venture Challenge, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | TBD | https://www.cmuvc.com/ |
| Uniting the Prairies (UP) conference | Saskatoon | TBD | https://www.unitingtheprairies.com/ |
| IFundWomen Visa Canada | Canada | TBD | https://www.ifundwomen.com/visa-canada |
| McMaster Startup Survivor: The Pitch Competition $75K | Hamilton | TBD | https://theforge.mcmaster.ca/pitchcompetition/ |
| Green Alley Award | Berlin | TBD | https://green-alley-award.com |
| VOA Futures Fund Community Health Incubator | USA | February 1 | https://seedspot.org/community-health-incubator/ |
| Founders First CDC's Chicago Job Creator Grant | Chicago | February 4 | https://foundersfirstcdc.org/grant-demo-mambo |
| Seed Your Startup | London Canada | February | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/funding-opportunities/seed-your-startup/ |
| Dragons' Den | Canada | February | https://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/auditions |
| New Venture Challenge University of Colorado at Boulder $50K | Boulder | February 8 | https://www.colorado.edu/nvc/ |
| Larta Institute’s Venture Fellows program | Los Angeles/USA | February 15 | https://larta.org/venture-fellows/ |
| Pitch Dingman Competition, University of Maryland – College Park | College Park, USA | February 16 | https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/centers-initiatives/dingman-center/initiatives-programs/pitch-dingman-competition |
| Arch Grants Startup Competition $100K Equity-Free Funding | St. Louis | February 20 | https://archgrants.org/competition/ |
| Utah Entrepreneur Challenge | Utah | February 21 | https://lassonde.utah.edu/uec/ |
| Transit Tech Lab | New York/USA | February 28 | https://transitinnovation.org/ |
| Start in Block Pitch Competition: Paris Blockchain Week $5M | Paris | February 28 | https://www.parisblockchainweek.com/start-up-competition |
| SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West | San Francisco | TBD | https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/program/startup-challenge#_=_ |
| Falling Walls pitch competition Global | Berlin | March | https://falling-walls.com/ |
| VentureCat Northwestern University | Evanston | March | https://www.venturecat.northwestern.edu/ |
| Inventures Startup Pitch Competition $10K | Calgary | March | https://inventurescanada.com/startup-pitch/ |
| Startup World Cup | Global | March | https://www.startupworldcup.io |
| FedEx #BackingSmall Business Contest $100K | Canada | March | https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/small-business/backing-small.html |
| LiONS LAIR | Hamilton | March | https://lionslair.ca/ |
| MN Cup, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities | Minneapolis | March 11 | https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup |
| Podim Startup | Maribor | March 15 | https://podim.org/startups/ |
| Galaxy of Stars' Galaxy Grant - women and minority entrepreneurs | USA | March 31 | https://galaxyofstars.org/galaxy-grants/ |
| K-Startup Grand | Korea | April | https://www.k-startupgc.org/ |
| Awards for Diversity and Innovation UofT | Toronto | April | https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/resource/rbc-awards-for-diversity-and-innovation-in-technology/ |
| True North Small Business Grant Contest | Canada | April | https://cloud.connect.purolator.com/grant-winners-2023/closed |
| Dempsey Competition University of Washington | Seattle | April 1 | https://foster.uw.edu/centers/buerk-ctr-entrepreneurship/entrepreneurship-competitions/dempsey-startup-competition/ |
| Peerless $1 Million - Female founders, Black, & Latine | USA | April 26 | https://www.peerlesspitch.com/ |
| Pitch Slam | Austin | TBD | https://www.naturallyaustin.org/pitchslam |
| Western University Accelerator $12K | London Canada | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/accelerator/ |
| AWE USA Startup Pitch Competition | Long Beach California | May 8 | https://www.awexr.com/usa-2024/startup_pitch |
| TechCrunch Battlefield $100K Global | San Francisco | May | https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2023/startup-battlefield-200/ |
| Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Global | Paris | May | https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com |
| 43 North | Buffalo | May | https://www.43north.org/ |
| #UofT PRIDE PITCH | Toronto | May | https://icubeutm.ca/competitions/ |
| Entrepreneurship World Cup | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | May | https://www.genglobal.org/ewc |
| #StandWithOwners Telus Competition | Canada | June | https://www.telus.com/en/business/small/campaigns/stand-with-owners |
| New Ventures BC $250K | Vancouver | TBD | https://www.newventuresbc.com/ |
| Columbia Engineering Entrepreneurship Ignition Grants | New York | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.engineering.columbia.edu/ignition-grants/ |
| PITCH Collision Global | Toronto | May | https://collisionconf.com/startups/pitch |
| Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge Deep Tech | Global/Paris | June | https://hello-tomorrow.org/global-challenge/ |
| Startupfest Competitions $100K | Montreal | July 10-12 | https://www.startupfest.com/ |
| HardTech Pitch Competition | Markham | July 26 | https://www.venturelab.ca/pitch-competition |
| Saas North Pitch Competitions | Ottawa | TBD | https://saasnorth.com/ |
| Simon Fraser University Entrepreneurship Competition | Vancouver | TBD | https://www.sfu.ca/vc/competitions/coast-capital-savings-venture-prize.html |
| Age-well Competition | Toronto | TBD | https://agewell-nce.ca/national-impact-challenge |
| TriColour Venture fund | Kingston | August | https://smith.queensu.ca/centres/ceisi/events/tricolour/index.php |
| Groceryshop Pitch Competition | Las Vegas | TBD | https://groceryshop.com/ |
| Columbia Engineering Fast-Pitch Competition $5K | New York | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.engineering.columbia.edu/fast-pitch/ |
| Navigate Brock University Pitch Competition $5K | St. Catherines | September | https://brocku.ca/linc/navigate/ |
| Schneider Go Green Student Competition | Global | September | https://gogreen.se.com/en |
| The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Women Entrepreneurs | Vacouver/Toronto | September | https://www.theforumpitch.ca/ |
| McCloskey New Venture Competition | Notre Dame | September | https://ideacenter.nd.edu/se/opportunities/mccloskey-competition/ |
| Slush Pitch Competition Global | Helsinki | September | https://slush.org/slush-100/ |
| IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge MIT | Boston | Sept 19 | https://pkgcenter.mit.edu/programs/ideas/ |
| Starter Company $5K Pitch Competition | Burlington/Oakville | TBD | https://www.halton.ca/For-Business/Halton-Region-Small-Business-Centre/Supports-and-Programs-for-Entrepreneurs/Starter-Company-Plus#01 |
| DC Startup Week | Washington, DC | TBD | https://www.dcstartupweek.org |
| Black Ambition Prize Competition | New York | TBD | https://www.blackambitionprize.com/ |
| The Cansbridge Fellowship | Canada | October | https://www.cansbridgefellowship.com/ |
| CodingitForward Fellowship | USA | October 16 | https://www.codingitforward.com/fellowship |
| AAGEF Ontario Entrepreneur Challenge | Toronto | October 1 | https://www.aagefchallenge.com/ |
| MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition | Boston | October 19 | https://www.mit100k.org/ |
| Desjardins Startup Prize Pitch Competition $100K University of Toronto | Toronto | October 16 | https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/2024-desjardins-startup-prize/ |
| The Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition | Global | October 23 | https://www.theforumpitch.ca |
| Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition University of Texas | Austin | November | https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/centers-and-initiatives/jon-brumley-texas-venture-labs/students/tvl-investment-competition/ |
| Ivey Business Plan Competition $20K | Global | Nov 1 | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/funding-opportunities/ivey-business-plan-competition/ |
| Enactus Canada Student Entrepreneur National Competition | Canada | Nov 1 | https://enactus.ca/ |
| Michigan Business Challenge, University of Michigan | Ann Arbor | Nov 1 | https://zli.umich.edu/michigan-business-challenge/ |
| Baylor New Venture Competition | Global | Nov 5 | https://hankamer.baylor.edu/baugh-center/new-venture |
| SXSW PITCH | Austin | Nov 12 | https://www.sxsw.com/pitch/ |
| Kaplan Pitch Tank | Chicago | Nov 25 | https://www.iit.edu/kaplan/events/kaplan-pitch-tank |
| Canadian Innovation Exchange | Canada | Nov 29 | https://cixtop20.cixsummit.com/ |
| Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge | New York | Nov 30 | https://www.sustainableinvestingchallenge.org/ |
| Sauga Pitch | Mississauga | Dec 1 | https://icubeutm.ca/competitions/ |
| Draper Competition for Women Entrepreneurs | Northampton USA | Dec 1 | https://www.smith.edu/academics/applied-learning-research/conway-innovation-center/students/draper-competition/about |
| Venture Z | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Dec 1 | https://www.icsdi.org/studentscompetitions |
| Jacobs Startup Competition | Global | Dec 4 | https://www.jacobs-startup.com/ |
| Sustainable Innovation Challenge | Mississauga | Dec 4 | https://icubeutm.ca/sic/ |
| Startup Day | Tartu, Estonia | Dec 17 | https://www.startupday.ee/program/pitching |
| South Summit Startup competition | Brazil | Dec 20 | https://www.southsummit.io/brazil/startup-competition/ |
| UTSC Startup Competition | Toronto | Dec 22 | https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/thehub/ |