To join the competition, the startups that are eligible must have a scalable, tech-product that has received less than $500,000 of investment.


Local Competitions

From May to November each year, the Seedstars team travels to 85+ cities and sources the best early-stage startups from emerging markets. Winners of local competitions get a chance to pitch their ideas and represent their countries at the Regional Seedstars Summit.


Regional Competitions
In November and December, 5 regional Seedstars Summits will happen in Africa, Asia, Latam, MENA and CEE. At the regional events, the winners of local competitions pitch their startups and compete for the chance to represent their country at the global Seedstars Summit in Switzerland.


Global Summit

In spring, all the winners of regional competitions travel to the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. They pitch their ideas one last time and compete for the title of the world’s best startup with 60+ finalists from all over the globe. The Seedstars World Winner takes home up to USD 500,000 in equity investment and other prizes.

There are different aspects we look for in an application:

• Have received less than USD 500,000 of funding to date;
• Needs to be scalable or have the potential to reach the scalability.

Pitch and application documents must be in English.

You have 3 minutes to pitch your idea in front of the audience and 5 minutes to answer questions from the judging panel.
Check our Pitch Guidelines.

You will need 2 days for the Local Competition, + 7 days if you were selected to the Seedstars Regional Summit and + 7 days if you were selected to the Seedstars Global Summit (includes: online application, preparing for pitching event, coaching, traveling and attending the events).

The Seedstars Growth Program is a virtual acceleration program for selected Seedstars World winners. In includes 14 weeks of content, USD 50,000 participation and a chance for follow on funding. More informations about the Program at Seedstars Programs.