The Fund of Funds and SU "St. Kliment Ohridski" are launching the second edition of the national competition "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria", in which young people from 18 to 29 years old can participate. The competition gives individual participants or teams the opportunity to develop their projects, demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and gain valuable experience within a 6-week mentoring program, before the final presentation of the ideas to investors. Candidates can join until April 17 through an electronic form on the initiative's website.
Applications for participation are accepted from all over Bulgaria, from individual participants or teams. Students from all Bulgarian universities and majors, as well as upper year students - 11th and 12th grade - can apply. Proposals from all fields and sectors and at different stages of implementation - from an idea to a prototype to an active product on the market - are eligible. Applications will be divided into categories (conceptual, early or advanced phase, as well as by age group) to determine a schedule for the training phase so that it most adequately covers the needs of the participants and maximizes the progress of the projects against the stage of development with which they enter the competition.
Admitted applicants will be given the opportunity to develop their ideas through mentoring, training and meetings with creators of successful startups, and the top ten teams will pitch to an expert jury and investors during the final on June 7. Participants will receive opportunities for equity investment, inclusion in accelerator programs and incubators, internships in competition partner organizations, mentoring hours with successful company founders, the opportunity to participate in Bulgarian and international competitions, as well as cash and incentive prizes from the partners.
This is the second edition of the national competition. Partners in 2023 are over 20 organizations from the startup and investment environment in our country, including sector associations, investment funds, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations supporting science and entrepreneurship, international platforms for angel investments, acceleration and start-up business, media.
The national competition "Best Youth Startup in Bulgaria" was held for the first time in the summer of 2022. 36 startups participated in the competition. This year, the organizers want to expand the scale of the initiative and establish it as the most significant and popular youth national competition, a springboard for young entrepreneurs to realize their ideas for their own business. The project aims to promote the implementation of innovative ideas in Bulgaria and to increase the entrepreneurial culture of young people, including for the generation and development of ideas, business planning, marketing, presentation to investors, etc.
More information and a link to apply are available on the competition website at www.startup-competition.fmfib.bg
Information about the participants and winners of the first edition is published here: https://www.fmfib.bg/bg/news/199-priklyuchi-natsionalniyat-konkurs-za-naydobar-mladezhki-startap-2022