Entrepreneurship World Cup Pitch Competition for Entrepreneurs worldwide ($1million prize) 2024
Published: 13 Nov 2023
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Since 2019, The Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) has become one of the biggest and most diverse startup pitch competitions and support programs of its kind, featuring more than 370,000 entrepreneurs from over 200 countries and territories while offering winners life-changing prizes.
EWC has awarded $4 million in cash prizes and $150 million in in-kind prizes and provided opportunities for entrepreneurs to reach the next stage in their company’s journey.
EWC is more than just a competition, though. Hundreds of coaching and training hours have been delivered, along with high-value entrepreneurship programs tailored to all three participating stages in the World Cup. The network you build throughout this journey offer invaluable guidance and support to catapult your company toward its growth objectives.
EWC Pitch Competition
Benefits of EWC Pitch Competition
Prizes and Awards for EWC 2024
- Travel to the EWC Global Finals: EWC 100 finalists will receive a full travel scholarship for one (1) designated traveler to participate in the EWC Global Finals.
- The designated traveler must be the Founder, Co-Founder or CEO. In special cases, with the approval of the Organizer, the CFO, COO, CTO would be eligible to participate at the Global Finals in their place contingent on criteria including but not limited to: health, English language proficiency, or travel documents.
- Once a designated traveler has completed the travel document issuance process, no changes can be made. EWC Global cannot make adjustments to its final roster of travelers within a three-week period prior to the Global Finals.
- If a designated traveler cannot travel, the company will forfeit its spot in the Global finals.
- The scholarship includes: a round-trip flight ticket, visa, hotel accommodation, and local transportation.
- Additional co-Founders and/or any other Team Members are welcome to join the EWC Global Finals
- Any other team members wishing to accompany a designated traveler will assume responsibility for travel, lodging, and venue access expenses as well as any expense for relevant travel documents (including but not limited to- visas, etc.).
- EWC Awards and Cash Prizes: The EWC 100 will be eligible to receive their share of US $1 million in non-dilutive cash prizes.
Requirements for EWC Pitch Competition
- There is no entry fee.
- Any startup from around the world is welcome to apply and become an Applicant.
- Applicant startups must be legally registered or planning to register in their country of residence.
- Applicant startups must be ten years or less old by the date of the Global Finals. Entity age is set by the date of company registration and not idea conception.
- EWC Global Winners who won cash prizes during previous editions of the EWC Global Finals (2019-2023) are eligible to participate again in 2024 with certain candidacy considerations for future would-be prizes:
- EWC Applicants can only be eligible for different prize categories than the prize they earned during previous participation in the competition.
- Only EWC Grand Prize winners (first place overall) are ineligible to participate as applicant candidates for EWC 2024.
- Any past second through fifth place winners and/or category winners are eligible and encouraged to apply, but cannot compete for the same placement.
- To encourage fairness in competition, there is no fast-track for past winners to compete in the Global Finals, and all applicants will pass through the same judging process.
- For example: Entrant A wins Idea Stage prize in 2021. If Applicant A reapplies, they will only be considered for EWC category prizes and/or non-Idea Stage “ranked prizes
- For example: Entrant B wins a specific category prize in 2023. If Applicant B reapplies, they will only be considered for any category prize except the prize they previously win and/or all ranked prizes.
- For example: Entrant C won second place in 2020. If Applicant B reapplies, they will only be considered for EWC category prizes and/or any ranked prize except second place.
Selection Process
Section 1: Categories
- All applicants must fit one of the following three (3) categories.
- These categories offer multiple stage-appropriate definitions and classification points, and within this framework, at least one (1) defining criteria must apply to qualify for that stage.
- EWC Global, in the application review, reserves the right to recategorize an applicant’s self-reported Stage classification.
- Idea Stage
- Self-Funding and Conceptual: Your company (or concept) is self-funding directly from founders + family/friends to build a prototype or initiate business operations (No Revenue)
- Unregistered Entity: Your company has not been legally registered as a legal entity and is building a business plan as a pathway to initiate business activities (No Revenue)
- Registered Entity / No Prototype: Your company could be recently legally registered but does not have an MVP or commercially viable product (No Revenue)
- Registered Entity / Prototyping: Your company could be registered and is actively working to develop an MVP (No Revenue)
- Aspiring Entrepreneur: You work on a university research project that will turn into a company (tech spin-off)
- Early Stage
- Seeking Validation: Your company has commercially viable MVP that is seeking early user/customer validation in the market (Nascent Revenue)
- Seeking Early Funding: Your company is ready for (or actively seeking) its first equity investment
- Early Signs of Growth: Your company shows early evidence of market validation and evidence of business growth in your home market (Generating Revenue)
- Early Equity Funding: Your company successfully earned seed / angel funding and preparing for Series-A funding
- Early International Sales: Your company shows signs of international sales but development is still nascent
- Nascent Bootstrapping: Your company shows evidence of small organic growth and is not seeking equity fundraising (bootstrapping)
- Steps Toward Governance: Your company is Intent or starting to develop a board of directors
- Creating Departments: Your company is growing and there is movement to hiring company executives (part-time or full-time) relieving the CEO/Founder from some parts of the company's operations
- Growth Stage
- Consistent Growth: Your company shows evidence of strong local market validation with consistent growth for at least three years
- Defined Departments: Your company developed an operating structure containing departments with a settled executive team that has clear department hiring standards
- Strong Governance: Your company has an active and engaged board of directors
- Repeatable: Your company shows clear evidence of a repeatable business model that has predictable recurring sales in multiple markets
- Equity Fundraising for Scalability: Your company successfully closed a Series-A (or beyond) round
- Evergreen: Your company can prove strong organic growth without fundraising (you are bootstrapping)
- Exit-Ready: Your company has reached its growth limit or plateau and you are exit-ready (seeking acquisition or private equity)
Section 2: Phases of Participation
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Phase 1: Registration?
- Phase 2: EWC Qualifiers
- All registered participants compete against one another in a Global Pool to identify the most-promising startups among each of the three stages. Up to 250 contestants advance past the EWC Qualifiers to the EWC Group Stage in Phase 3.
- Phase 3: Bootcamp + EWC Group Stage?
- All EWC Group Stage contestants are invited to participate in a structured virtual bootcamp comprising one cohort organized by Idea Stage, Early Stage and Growth stage. Teams participate in a cohort-level workshop and mentorship sessions designed to explore unique challenges, uncover applicable solutions and refine their pitch and presentation.
- EWC Group Stage contestants are evaluated at the discretion of EWC judging committee(s) based on the results of due diligence and other factors tied to the Bootcamp. The top 100 are selected as the “EWC 100” Global Finalists.
- Phase 4: Global Finals?
- The EWC 100 are invited to compete in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the EWC Global Finals for prizes including a share of USD $1 million.
Application Deadline
April 1, 2024How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to
Entrepreneurship World Cup on genglobal.submittable.com to apply
- Applications must be entered on the official application platform available at entrepreneurshipworldcup.com to be considered.
- Applications must have a minimum of one (1) representative, and this representative must be an executive-level member authorized or deputized to act on behalf of the applicant organization.
- Submitted applications will be considered to be a “team”, regardless of its company size, according to the categories of the competition (see ‘Categories’ section below).
- The applicant team member representing the company must be 18 years old at the time of submission.
- If an aspiring applicant does not meet the minimum age criteria but has an idea or registered company that wants to be considered for admission into the competition, the following provisions must hold:
- A parent or legal guardian must act as a co-applicant.
- The parent or legal guardian of the applicant must consent to all EWC participation and provisions in representation of their child.
- The applicant acknowledges that if selected to participate in the EWC Global Finals, both the applicant and the parent or legal guardian will travel as company representatives.
- The parent or legal guardian, and applicant, must conform to all visa requirements and entry processes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- The applicant acknowledges that travel and hospitality costs for the parent or legal guardian are not covered by the EWC Global Team or its sponsors and/or hosts.
- Application submissions must be the original work solely of the participating company.
- Only completed applications meeting competition deadlines will be considered.
- English is the only official language of the EWC at the global level- this includes all virtual and live public facing pitching opportunities, the Global Finals event, and bootcamps and/or training experiences.
- Applications must be completed and submitted in English
- Non-English speaking applicants are welcome to apply, but must disclose at least one (1) English speaking team member that can serve as its company representative.
- If selected to participate in a National Finals or Global Final event, the team member with sufficient English language proficiency must represent the company.
- Applicants must take all necessary steps to ensure adequate protection of any intellectual property that might be described in their submission (i.e. appropriate intellectual property filings, patent, and copyright notices, etc.).
- EWC Global commits to a policy of not monetizing applicant data.
- EWC Global commits to holding applicant data only for the purposes of the competition journey (application intake, national judging, EWC bootcamp, and Global Finals).
- Applicants agree to the limitation of liability provisions and all other terms and conditions set out in the Terms of Use below.
- The Global Organizers reserve the right to disqualify any submission at any time that, in its judgement and discretion, violates the spirit of the competition, its guidelines, processes, and Rules or Terms and Conditions.
- Any Participating Team engaging in unethical activities, including lying, misrepresentation, non-disclosure of material information, or any activity that may adversely affect the image of EWC or Organizers, will be disqualified and barred from participation in all EWC related activities.
- Applicants agree to participate in media and press opportunities related to the EWC competition.
- EWC Global Staff will offer advance notice to any participants of such opportunities as they arise.
For more details, visit Entrepreneurship World Cup website
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