InnoVenture Iowa invites the best and brightest early-stage entrepreneurs to participate in the first annual InnoVenture Challenge, a pitch competition that will bring together three startup companies to compete on-stage for a $100,000 award.
Donor Name: InnoVenture Iowa
State: Iowa
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Challenge
Deadline: 11/15/2022
Size of the Grant:$100,000
Details:
Their screening process will include a detailed evaluation of each application with a core focus on three key areas: feasibility, understanding of the underlying problem the applicant seeks to fix, and innovation.
Startups that move forward into the semi-finalist round will present to a panel of judges who will be looking for a clear articulation of the problem that is being solved and a demonstrated commitment to innovation.
Pitches will be technically evaluated according to the following categories:
- Degree of overall innovation
- Capacity, experience and potential of the individual and team
- Demonstrated feasibility of business model and approach
- Time to scalable growth
- Resiliency and grit of the founding members
- Understanding of core obstacles and risks
- Funding model and sustainability plan
- Degree of personal commitment
What they are looking for?
- Can the founder(s) clearly demonstrate the problem their business solves?
- Does the business have a clear value proposition?
- Can this company scale? Is there an ambitious plan for growth?
- Does this business have the ability to create social impact?
What You’ll get
- The opportunity to pitch your business at the InnoVenture Challenge pitch competition.
- A chance to receive a $100,000 award from InnoVenture Iowa.
- Exposure to mentors and advisors from the startup community in Des Moines, Iowa.
- Potential partnership opportunities with corporate leaders in agtech, advanced manufacturing, insuretech, fintech, venture capital and beyond.
Criteria
Any early-stage startup company that meets the criteria below is eligible to apply for the InnoVenture Challenge:
- The startup must be located in Iowa.
- The startup must operate loosely within the categories of biosciences and/or information technology. This includes agritech, advanced manufacturing, health tech, medtech, insuretech, fintech. Startups can be hardware or software companies.
InnoVenture welcomes applicants from across Iowa covering a number of industries, but they are not looking for long-standing organizations or mid- to late-stage startup companies seeking new funding. Preference will be given to innovative projects.
For more information, visit InnoVenture Challenge.