Capital Contest

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With the Capital Contest, we are pursuing the goal of supporting promising start-up teams, particularly in the early phase of innovative start-ups, in the acquisition of primarily regional capital.

During the contest, you pitch in front of an audience and a jury consisting of regional, potential capital providers. This gives you the opportunity to make your project known in the region of Central Hesse.

Not only can you win start-up financing in the form of investors' interest, but also smart capital.

An Investors' Interest is nothing else than that investors from the jury would like to get in contact with you after the event and could imagine to invest in you or in your young company and to work with you. The Capital Contest also focuses on smart capital, i.e. the expertise and network of the jury, which you can draw on in the event of investor interest and which will support you in further market penetration.

After the contest there will be a networking event, which will give you the chance to further increase your network and the awareness level of your company in the region of Central Hesse.

You don't want to miss this opportunity and participate as a founding team? Then inform yourself about the conditions of participation and contact the Capital Contest team if you have any questions.

Past events

2023

2022

2021

Process & Application Procedure

Application phase

Phase 1
January 23 to March 13, 2023

The four-stage process starts with an approximately two-month application phase from January to March, in which the founders can apply to participate in the StartMiUp Capital Contest.

Eligible are all founding teams that
1. have founded a company or plan to do so in the same year and
2. include at least one person who is currently enrolled at one of the three universities in Central Hesse, employed there, or is an alumnus (less than five years graduate/employee) of one of these universities
an apply.

To apply
- fill out the application form,
- prepare an application sketch of the startup company,
- and submit both digitally as PDFs.
For the application outline, a guideline will be provided at the beginning of the application phase, which you can follow.

The submitted documents form the basis for the selection process of the founding teams that will pitch for external capital in front of the jury at the StartMiUp Capital Contest.
Evaluation phase

Phase 2

March 14 to March 31, 2023

After the application deadline, the evaluation phase begins. An internal panel of experts will evaluate the applications submitted using a scoring model based on specific criteria. The scoring values achieved here will be used to determine the founding teams that will be allowed to participate in the StartMiUp Capital Contest and pitch to the jury of investors.
Vorbereitungsphase

Phase 3:

April 1 to April 26, 2023

Since it is important to us to prepare the founders optimally for the StartMiUp Capital Contest and their presentation in front of external capital providers, all pitching founding teams are offered to participate in preparatory workshops before each Capital Contest.

Our workshops in 2023: on April 17, our How-to-Pitch Workshop will take place at MAGIE Makerspace Gießen. On April 20, our Hot Seat Session will take place with the former Rittal CEO and with the management consultancy Advacon, respectively.
Capital Contest and Networking following the event

Phase 4

Donnerstag, 27. April 2023

In the fourth phase, the StartMiUp Capital Contest will take place. In the contest, the founders have the chance to pitch their business idea in front of an audience and a jury consisting of (mainly regional) potential capital providers. In addition to start-up financing in the form of investors' interest, they can also win smart capital. After the competition, there will always be a networking event, through which the founders can further increase their network and the level of awareness of the company in the Central Hesse region.

And what happens after that?

We think sustainably. Thus, we will continue to stay in contact with the founding teams after and independently of the competition and, if necessary, provide advice. Founders: inside can benefit from our wide range of services to help them realize the maximum potential of their venture.

Protection of application sketches/business plans

The organizers of the Capital Contest guarantee the confidential treatment of the submitted application documents. All external reviewers sign a confidentiality agreement before reviewing the documents and assure confidential cooperation not only during the competition but especially after its end. The personal data of the participants will not be passed on to unauthorized third parties by the organizers. The participants of the competition agree to present their startup/start-up project at the final event and to provide press information after having been informed in advance. The legal process is excluded.

If you have any questions about the Capital Contest, please feel free to contact us at any time.