One of the best things you can do for your startup is to get access to non-dilutive funding. This allows you to kickstart the venture with some basic funding you need to get the ball rolling to cover your costs such as servers, email marketing, incorporation, and many more. You have to be prepared to go down before you go up in a startup as the first few years will be challenging.
While there are tons of resources on the internet, it literally takes hours to navigate and find the right opportunity. We did all the heavy lifting for you as we bring you the top startup competitions to help you win some non-dilutive funding for your startups. Some competitions such as Dragons’ Den are dilutive, but worth the mention as the exposure and PR sometimes can make sense for the startup.
Other examples include Collision Pitch Competition in Toronto, which takes place in the summer. Previously, it featured some highly innovative companies such as Bidmii. This is a real estate tech platforms that streamlines the process of bidding and paying for home improvement jobs, making life easier for both homeowners and contractors. Bidmii is disrupting the home improvement industry, one project at a time. Check out the the list of Top 500 companies that presented in Toronto’s competition.
Overall, startup competitions can bring the startup much needed exposure, funding, and some network as well. Of course, it’s worth noting it’s only through paying customers that one can build a sustainable business. The complete list of startup competitions is here below along with some highlighted ones. Majority of these competitions are deadline sensitive so be sure to apply early as we have them all together.
1. AAGEF Ontario Entrepreneur Challenge
The AAGEF 2023 Entrepreneur Challenge is Toronto’s top startup competition. It is hosted annually and has featured some great startups previously. The deadline for this one is usually in October.
2. Arch Grants Startup Competition $100K USD
One of the best funding opportunities for startups is with the city of St. Louis. The city offers $75,000 equity-free funding, $25,000 for relocation, and plus eligibility for additional funding of up to $100,000. This is open to non-USA citizens as well.
3. Entrepreneurship World Cup
Entrepreneurship World Cup is a global startup competitions that takes place in Saudi Arabia. It has featured more than 370,000 entrepreneurs from over 200 countries. The deadline for this is around in May.
4. Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards
This is one of the best competitions for women entrepreneurs. Get non-dilutive funding for your business.
5. Startupfest Competition
Startupfest is Canada’s premium startup competition that is held in Montreal every year in the summer. This is one of the largest conferences globally with a startup competitions that helps startup get funding.
6. Canada’s Dragons’ Den
Of course we have to mention Canada’s Dragons Den. While this is not a non-dilutive competition the amount of exposure, PR, and equity funding is worth the mention. There are many success stories that came out of this national contest.
7. Age-well Competition
If you have an innovative for aging in humans, check out the Age-well competition. This competition is hosted in Toronto with some innovative startups previously participating.
| Startup Competitions | Location | Deadline | Link |
| FoundersBeta Top 100 | Global | TBD | https://www.foundersbeta.com/top-100/ |
| Dobson Cup Competition McGill University $200K | Montreal | January | https://www.mcgill.ca/dobson/entrepreneurship-programs/mcgill-dobson-cup |
| Startup of the Year | USA | January | https://www.startupofyear.com/ |
| Viva Technology Startup Challenges and Awards | Paris | January | https://vivatechnology.com/challenges |
| Heartland Challenge $100K Global Student Competition | Global | January | https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/programs/heartland-challenge.php |
| Women Innovation Summit Pitch $100K | Toronto | January | https://dmz.torontomu.ca/women-innovation-summit/ |
| Utah Tech Week Pitch by Convoi Ventures | Utah | January | https://lu.ma/utwpitch |
| Bridging Innovation Pitch Competition | Atlanta | January | https://itsmfleaders.org/bridging-innovation-pitch-competition/ |
| Shark Tank Auditions | Las Vegas | January | https://abc.com/shows/shark-tank/open-call |
| Web Summit Pitch | Lisbon | January | https://websummit.com/startups/pitch |
| Proteus Innovation Competition | Ontario | January | https://proteusic.com/ |
| GW New Venture Competition George Washington University | Washington | January | https://newventurecompetition.gwu.edu/ |
| Ontario Agri-Tech Pitch Competition University of Guelph | Guelph | January | https://www.uoguelph.ca/research/innovation/ontario-agri-tech-pitch-competition |
| Tech Chill Fifty Founders Battle $10K EUR | Riga, Latvia | January | https://www.techchill.co/fifty-founders-battle |
| EU Startups Summit | Valletta, Malta | January | https://www.eu-startups.com/eu-startups-summit-2024/ |
| TNW Pitch Battle Competition | Amsterdam | January | https://thenextweb.com/conference/startups |
| Upstart Concordia University | Montreal | January | https://gcesconcordia.com/upstart |
| 5 Across Pitch Competition for Kentucky Entrepreneurs | Kentucky | January | https://awesomeinc.org/events/5across/ |
| Web Summit Rio Pitch | Rio de Janeiro | January | https://rio.websummit.com/startups/pitch/ |
| Thiel Fellowship $100K | Global | year round | https://thielfellowship.org/ |
| Elevator Pitch Competition Global $240K | Hong Kong | January 8 | https://epic.hkstp.org |
| WMF Startup Competition | Italy | TBD | https://en.wemakefuture.it/call/startup-competition/ |
| Cozad New Venture Challenge University of Illinois | Champaign | January 28 | https://tec.illinois.edu/programs/cozad |
| Burgess New Venture Challenge, Michigan State University | East Lansing | January 29 | https://entrepreneurship.msu.edu/burgessnvc |
| Startup Global Pitch Competition Startup Canada | Canada | TBD | https://www.startupcan.ca/explore/startup-global/ |
| Schulich Startups York University | Toronto | TBD | https://schulich.yorku.ca/schulich-startups-program/ |
| Impact Canada Challenges | Canada | TBD | https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges |
| Panasci Competition University of Buffalo | Buffalo | TBD | https://www.buffalo.edu/entrepreneurship/programs/competitions/panasci.html |
| Hult Prize | Global | January | https://www.hultprize.org/how-it-works |
| FemSTEM Women healthcare entrepreneurs | Toronto | January 12 – 28 | https://h2i.utoronto.ca/resource/femstem/ |
| Young Entrepreneur Scholarship UofT $7.5K | Toronto | January 14 | https://utsc.utoronto.ca/mgmt/young-entrepreneur-scholarship-yes |
| PITCH With a Twist | Mississauga | January 15 | https://icubeutm.ca/twist/ |
| MassChallenge | Boston/Global | January 18 | https://masschallenge.org |
| Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award | Canada | January 15 | https://www.womenofinfluence.ca/ |
| Canada's Total Mom Pitch | Canada | January 19 | https://www.totalmompitch.ca/ |
| WISE WeInvest: Venture Capital Incubator for Women | USA | January 24 | https://www.northeasternwise.com/ |
| Open AI Startup Fund | Global | January 26 | https://openai.fund/news/converge-2 |
| T-Mobile's T Challenge | Global/Germany | January 26 | https://telekom-challenge.com/ |
| Hinge's One More Hour: social groups and organizations Gen Z | USA | January 30 | https://hinge.co/onemorehour |
| Rice Business Plan Competition | Global | January 31 | https://rbpc.rice.edu/ |
| Grand Challenges Canada | Canada | January 31 | https://www.grandchallenges.ca/funding-opportunities/ |
| South Summit | Madrid | January 31 | https://www.southsummit.io/startup-competition/ |
| Visionary Pitch Competition | USA | January 31 | https://www.theenterprisecenter.com/initiatives/visionary-pitch-competition |
| Cadence Cash Thrive Grant | USA | January 31 | https://cadencecash.com/grant-program/ |
| Athene Black and Brown Business Summit Pitch Competition | USA | January 31 | https://wdmchamber.org/bbbsummit |
| Skip $10K Kickoff Grant | USA | January 31 | https://helloskip.com/dashboard/opportunity/2024kickoff |
| CAFE Fintech Accelerator For Financial Wellness | USA | January 31 | https://ftcafe.org/apply/ |
| Dell for Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition | USA | TBD | https://www.dell.com/en-us/lp/dellpitch |
| Latinas in Tech Startup Competition | San Francisco | TBD | https://latinasintechsummit.org/startup-competition-2024/ |
| START Summit | Gallen, Switzerland | February | https://www.startglobal.org/start-summit |
| Values and Venture Competition Texas Christian University | Fort Worth | February | https://www.neeley.tcu.edu/Centers/Institute-for-Entrepreneurship-and-Innovation/Values-and-Ventures |
| Midwest Entrepreneurship Case Competition | Indiana | February | https://www.lib.purdue.edu/parrishcasecompetition |
| IDeA Competition University of Windsor | Windsor | February 2 | https://www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/103/idea-competition-2023-2024 |
| Crummer Venture Plan $70K | Florida | February 4 | https://orlandoventureplan.com/ |
| Big Bang Business Competition University of California | Davis | February 4 | https://innovate.ucdavis.edu/big-bang-competition |
| Heartland Challenge $100K Global Student Competition | Global | February 9 | https://entrepreneurship.uark.edu/programs/heartland-challenge.php |
| MIT Water, Food & Agriculture Innovation Prize $30K | Global | February 9 | https://www.mitwaterinnovation.org/apply |
| Startup Columbia University Venture Competition | New York | February 9 | https://entrepreneurship.columbia.edu/startupcolumbia/ |
| EFFERVESCENCE Start-up Pitch Competition $20K Medtech & biotech | Montreal | February 12 | https://effervescencemtl.com/en/competition-start-up-pitch-2024/ |
| Falcons' Fortunes pitch competition $100K by FACIT | Canada | February 12 | https://facit.ca/falcons-fortunes |
| INNOVATEwest Pitch Competition $20K | Vancouver | February 14 | https://innovatewest.tech/grizzly-pursuit/ |
| VenturePack Challenge North Carolina State University | Raleigh | February 18 | https://entrepreneurship.ncsu.edu/events-events/venturepack-challenge/ |
| 1871 WMNtech Pitch Competition $30K | USA | February 18 | https://1871.com/event/wmntech-pitch-competition/ |
| University of Western Entrepreneurial Summer Internship $10K | London Canada | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/internship/ |
| America’s Seed Fund | Alexandria | TBD | https://seedfund.nsf.gov |
| Velocity Pitch Competition | Waterloo | TBD | https://velocityincubator.com/programs/students/pitch-competition/ |
| New Venture Challenge University of Chicago | Chicago | TBD | https://polsky.uchicago.edu/programs-events/new-venture-challenge/ |
| RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition Miami University | Miami | TBD | https://miamioh.edu/fsb/departments/entrepreneurship/focus-areas-initiatives/start-up-venture/new-venture-capstone.html |
| CMU Venture Challenge, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | TBD | https://www.cmuvc.com/ |
| Uniting the Prairies (UP) conference | Saskatoon | TBD | https://www.unitingtheprairies.com/ |
| IFundWomen Visa Canada | Canada | TBD | https://www.ifundwomen.com/visa-canada |
| McMaster Startup Survivor: The Pitch Competition $75K | Hamilton | TBD | https://theforge.mcmaster.ca/pitchcompetition/ |
| Green Alley Award | Berlin | TBD | https://green-alley-award.com |
| VOA Futures Fund Community Health Incubator | USA | February 1 | https://seedspot.org/community-health-incubator/ |
| Founders First CDC's Chicago Job Creator Grant | Chicago | February 4 | https://foundersfirstcdc.org/grant-demo-mambo |
| Seed Your Startup | London Canada | February | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/funding-opportunities/seed-your-startup/ |
| Dragons' Den | Canada | February | https://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/auditions |
| New Venture Challenge University of Colorado at Boulder $50K | Boulder | February 8 | https://www.colorado.edu/nvc/ |
| Larta Institute’s Venture Fellows program | Los Angeles/USA | February 15 | https://larta.org/venture-fellows/ |
| Pitch Dingman Competition, University of Maryland – College Park | College Park, USA | February 16 | https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/centers-initiatives/dingman-center/initiatives-programs/pitch-dingman-competition |
| Arch Grants Startup Competition $100K Equity-Free Funding | St. Louis | February 20 | https://archgrants.org/competition/ |
| Utah Entrepreneur Challenge | Utah | February 21 | https://lassonde.utah.edu/uec/ |
| Transit Tech Lab | New York/USA | February 28 | https://transitinnovation.org/ |
| Start in Block Pitch Competition: Paris Blockchain Week $5M | Paris | February 28 | https://www.parisblockchainweek.com/start-up-competition |
| SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West | San Francisco | TBD | https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/program/startup-challenge#_=_ |
| Falling Walls pitch competition Global | Berlin | March | https://falling-walls.com/ |
| VentureCat Northwestern University | Evanston | March | https://www.venturecat.northwestern.edu/ |
| Inventures Startup Pitch Competition $10K | Calgary | March | https://inventurescanada.com/startup-pitch/ |
| Startup World Cup | Global | March | https://www.startupworldcup.io |
| FedEx #BackingSmall Business Contest $100K | Canada | March | https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/small-business/backing-small.html |
| LiONS LAIR | Hamilton | March | https://lionslair.ca/ |
| MN Cup, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities | Minneapolis | March 11 | https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/mn-cup |
| Podim Startup | Maribor | March 15 | https://podim.org/startups/ |
| Galaxy of Stars' Galaxy Grant - women and minority entrepreneurs | USA | March 31 | https://galaxyofstars.org/galaxy-grants/ |
| K-Startup Grand | Korea | April | https://www.k-startupgc.org/ |
| True North Small Business Grant Contest | Canada | April | https://cloud.connect.purolator.com/grant-winners-2023/closed |
| Awards for Diversity and Tech UofT | Toronto | April | https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/resource/rbc-awards-for-diversity-and-innovation-in-technology/ |
| Peerless $1Million - Female Founders, Black & Latine | USA | April 26 | https://www.peerlesspitch.com/ |
| Columbia Engineering Entrepreneurship Ignition Grants | New York | TBD | https://foster.uw.edu/centers/buerk-ctr-entrepreneurship/entrepreneurship-competitions/dempsey-startup-competition/ |
| Pitch Slam | Austin | TBD | https://www.naturallyaustin.org/pitchslam |
| Western University Accelerator $12K | London Canada | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/accelerator/ |
| AWE USA Startup Pitch Competition | Long Beach California | May 8 | https://www.awexr.com/usa-2024/startup_pitch |
| TechCrunch Battlefield $100K Global | San Francisco | May | https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2023/startup-battlefield-200/ |
| Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards Global | Paris | May | https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com |
| 43 North | Buffalo | May | https://www.43north.org/ |
| #UofT PRIDE PITCH | Toronto | May | https://icubeutm.ca/competitions/ |
| Entrepreneurship World Cup | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | May | https://www.genglobal.org/ewc |
| #StandWithOwners Telus Competition | Canada | June | https://www.telus.com/en/business/small/campaigns/stand-with-owners |
| New Ventures BC $250K | Vancouver | TBD | https://www.newventuresbc.com/ |
| Columbia Engineering Entrepreneurship Ignition Grants | New York | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.engineering.columbia.edu/ignition-grants/ |
| PITCH Collision Global | Toronto | May | https://collisionconf.com/startups/pitch |
| Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge Deep Tech | Global/Paris | June | https://hello-tomorrow.org/global-challenge/ |
| Startupfest Competitions $100K | Montreal | July 10-12 | https://www.startupfest.com/ |
| HardTech Pitch Competition | Markham | July 26 | https://www.venturelab.ca/pitch-competition |
| Saas North Pitch Competitions | Ottawa | TBD | https://saasnorth.com/ |
| Simon Fraser University Entrepreneurship Competition | Vancouver | TBD | https://www.sfu.ca/vc/competitions/coast-capital-savings-venture-prize.html |
| Age-well Competition | Toronto | TBD | https://agewell-nce.ca/national-impact-challenge |
| TriColour Venture fund | Kingston | August | https://smith.queensu.ca/centres/ceisi/events/tricolour/index.php |
| Groceryshop Pitch Competition | Las Vegas | TBD | https://groceryshop.com/ |
| Columbia Engineering Fast-Pitch Competition $5K | New York | TBD | https://entrepreneurship.engineering.columbia.edu/fast-pitch/ |
| Navigate Brock University Pitch Competition $5K | St. Catherines | September | https://brocku.ca/linc/navigate/ |
| Schneider Go Green Student Competition | Global | September | https://gogreen.se.com/en |
| The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Women Entrepreneurs | Vacouver/Toronto | September | https://www.theforumpitch.ca/ |
| McCloskey New Venture Competition | Notre Dame | September | https://ideacenter.nd.edu/se/opportunities/mccloskey-competition/ |
| Slush Pitch Competition Global | Helsinki | September | https://slush.org/slush-100/ |
| IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge MIT | Boston | Sept 19 | https://pkgcenter.mit.edu/programs/ideas/ |
| Starter Company $5,000 Pitch Competition | Burlington/Oakville | TBD | https://www.halton.ca/For-Business/Halton-Region-Small-Business-Centre/Supports-and-Programs-for-Entrepreneurs/Starter-Company-Plus#01 |
| DC Startup Week | Washington, DC | TBD | https://www.dcstartupweek.org |
| Black Ambition Prize Competition | New York | TBD | https://www.blackambitionprize.com/ |
| The Cansbridge Fellowship | Canada | October | https://www.cansbridgefellowship.com/ |
| CodingitForward Fellowship | USA | October 16 | https://www.codingitforward.com/fellowship |
| AAGEF Ontario Entrepreneur Challenge | Toronto | October 1 | https://www.aagefchallenge.com/ |
| MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition | Boston | October 19 | https://www.mit100k.org/ |
| Desjardins Startup Prize Pitch Competition $100K University of Toronto | Toronto | October 16 | https://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/for-entrepreneurs/2024-desjardins-startup-prize/ |
| The Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition | Global | October 23 | https://www.theforumpitch.ca |
| Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition University of Texas | Austin | November | https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/centers-and-initiatives/jon-brumley-texas-venture-labs/students/tvl-investment-competition/ |
| Ivey Business Plan Competition $20K | Global | Nov 1 | https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/for-students/funding-opportunities/ivey-business-plan-competition/ |
| Enactus Canada Student Entrepreneur National Competition | Canada | Nov 1 | https://enactus.ca/ |
| Michigan Business Challenge, University of Michigan | Ann Arbor | Nov 1 | https://zli.umich.edu/michigan-business-challenge/ |
| Baylor New Venture Competition | Global | Nov 5 | https://hankamer.baylor.edu/baugh-center/new-venture |
| SXSW PITCH | Austin | Nov 12 | https://www.sxsw.com/pitch/ |
| Kaplan Pitch Tank | Chicago | Nov 25 | https://www.iit.edu/kaplan/events/kaplan-pitch-tank |
| Canadian Innovation Exchange - Canada's Premier Startup Awards | Canada | Nov 29 | https://cixtop20.cixsummit.com/ |
| Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge | New York | Nov 30 | https://www.sustainableinvestingchallenge.org/ |
| Sauga Pitch | Mississauga | Dec 1 | https://icubeutm.ca/competitions/ |
| Draper Competition for Women Entrepreneurs | Northampton USA | Dec 1 | https://www.smith.edu/academics/applied-learning-research/conway-innovation-center/students/draper-competition/about |
| Venture Z | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Dec 1 | https://www.icsdi.org/studentscompetitions |
| Jacobs Startup Competition | Global | Dec 4 | https://www.jacobs-startup.com/ |
| Sustainable Innovation Challenge | Mississauga | Dec 4 | https://icubeutm.ca/sic/ |
| Startup Day | Tartu, Estonia | Dec 17 | https://www.startupday.ee/program/pitching |
| South Summit Startup competition | Brazil | Dec 20 | https://www.southsummit.io/brazil/startup-competition/ |
| UTSC Startup Competition | Toronto | Dec 22 | https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/thehub/ |
