Pitching in front of hundreds or even thousands of investors, C-level executives and other startup ecosystem stakeholders can be challenging for many founders. But it’s also a springboard that helps startups to stand out and give them recognition to easily gain trust and attention from investors or other potential business partners. That’s the reason why most of our selected startups and scaleups also apply for the Podim Pitching Competition. Will you go down the same path?
If you are an ambitious startup from the CEE region, then you should apply for the Podim Pitching Competition. It will put the spotlight on you and speed up the process of connecting with investors. Many startups report that being in the semifinals or finals of the competition serves investors as proof of the startup’s quality and hard work, and as a signal that they are worthy of trust.
The Pitching Competition starts with pre-qualification rounds at Demo Days and ends with the London Springboard
The contest will start with pre-qualification rounds of applied startups at the online Demo Days on the 4th and 5th of May. Best startups, according to the jury’s decision, will move on to the semi-finals on the 16th of May. The day after, five finalists will compete on the main stage for the all-inclusive three-day Podim London Springboard program and participation at the Fundraising Bootcamp, led by angel investor, tech veteran and entrepreneur Francios Mazoudier.
“During three jam-packed days of my official Podim London trip, the Podim crew introduced us to several angel investors, VCs and fellow founders. We also went through our investment strategy with Francois Mazoudier and Marcella Donatello from the Fundraising Bootcamp, which was useful as always. This was truly a work hard, play hard trip , but the details, I will keep to myself,” wrote Matija Nakić from Farseer, Podim Pitching Competition winner in 2020.
Getting as many meetings as possible is important, but with recognition, it will go faster
With more than 900 business meetings, Podim Deal Room has become the core for startups seeking the next investment round or wanting to find new customers in the region. Podim may not be the largest gathering of venture capitalists in the world, but its ability to attract more than 100 highly motivated regional and global investors and 200+ business C-level executives looking for new investment opportunities in our region, makes it a powerful deal-making platform.
The Deal Room is just one of the meeting points with your new potential investor. A lot of startups can’t book many meetings at Podim because of their tight schedule. Instead, they reach out to them after the event through other channels like LinkedIn. This is the path ZenOwn, a Swiss startup, Podim 2021 Pitching Competition Finalist, has chosen. Co-founder Blaž Bevc said in an interview with us that many investors, after introducing themselves as a pitch contest finalist, respond to their message quicker. In other words, it was easier to get their attention.
He also said that taking part in the Pitching Competition meant becoming more visible and well-known in this part of Europe. To get on the radar of VCs and media. “Every conversation, every pitch is important. You never know where a new lead can take you” he added.
Some of the Podim Pitching Competition startup success stories
The success stories of many startups and scaleups that participate in our pitch contest are proof that Podim is the place to be and that our jury, made up of renowned investors, does its job exceptionally well.
To mention a few:
- AdScanner, a marketing startup that provides big data solutions for a new generation of TV business models and winner of the Pitching Competition in 2019, raised 2,7 mio EUR of investment from three large international investors, South Central Ventures, J&T Ventures, and Laughing Tuna GmbH. Last year they also started a partnership with Germany’s largest TV service provider Vodafone.
- Farseer, the winner of our Pitching Competition in 2020, is developing an innovative no-code platform for financial planning and analytics. They won AI2FUTURE, a startup pitching competition at the largest AI conference in the region.
- Last year’s finalist PriceHubble, the world’s leading AI analytics and data company for the residential real estate industry, raised 34 mio USD in the series B round. They also recently started a partnership with Credit Suisse, MoneyPark. They were listed among the Top 20 of the PropTechMap 2021.
- DWELT, the winner in 2021 that developed a cloud-based software solution Platform X, which connects utility providers and customers on the grid, was listed as one of the best green energy startups in Europe.
- ZenOwn, last year’s finalist that revolutionised the post-purchase experience, raised 1.4 million EUR in December 2021.
Prepare your story and have fun
If the aim for this year is to gain more visibility and awareness for your tech-driven startup, then this is the place to be. Although your first goal in pitching is business-related, you can still have fun! Take it as a challenge. As a test of what you can achieve. Competition is a good thing. It pushes you to work harder and forces you to move even faster. Are you in? We know you are.
Show us your superpower. Let us see it on our stage. Apply to Podim, and if selected, you’ll get an invitation to the Pitching Competition.
