FAQ

Venture Cup IDEA runs during the fall and Venture Cup Startup runs during the spring. For exact dates please visit the competition page.

When submitting an entry to our competition you can choose to write some information in a box called "Hidden" information, which means that the information you write here is just that, hidden. The text you add in this text box will only be visible for your team members and selected people from Venture Cup's professional network; the jury, the feedback writers and the Venture Cup staff.
Everyone that has access to read the hidden information have all signed confidentiality agreements. The feedback writers are working professionals within fields that are in some way connected to entrepreneurship. These are the people who will give you feedback on your business idea through the digital platform, and therefore needs to be able to have access to your idea in its entirety.

In Venture Cup IDEA and STARTUP you compete in one of four regions depending on which county you live in. If you compete as a team you compete in the region where the team leader resides. The team leader is appointed jointly by your team and registered as a leader when you upload your entry on the digital platform.
Don’t forget to register all members of you team on the digital platform when you submit your entry. All team members need to create their individual profiles to be registered as a competitor.

Absolutely, you can compete with as many ideas as you want, during the same round of competition. You register each idea as a separate entry in the competition.
The only requirement is that your idea/s meets the Venture Cup competition rules. You can read more about the rules for the competition when you’ve registered a profile at the digital platform.

You can compete individually or as a team, which option you choose is totally up to you.
However, we recommend our contestants to team up, since two minds usually work better than one.

If you participate as a team, all team members must be registered on the digital platform when you upload your entry.
Do not forget to add the co-creators!

It is possible to submit you entry, and pitch, in either Swedish or English. Which of the two languages you choose to use will not affect your chances in the competition.

You can find all the information in the document marked Criteria further down under the Brief tab, when you’re signed in to the digital platform.

Below are some of the common criteria one needs to fulfill in order to participate in Venture Cup:
● You must have a connection to Sweden; either reside here, study, work or similar.
● Business ideas in companies with existing operations and sales may not participate in the competition, except for the idea spun off into a new company.

Venture Cup is a national, nonprofit organization with offices all across Sweden. The competitions STARTUP and IDEA which Venture Cup is organizing are divided into four geographical regions; South, West, East and North. In the National Final of STARTUP, the finalists from all regions compete against each other.

In addition to these regions, Venture Cup has sister organizations in Norway and Denmark, amongst others. Please note that Venture Cup Sweden and Venture Cup in other countries are separate organizations.

Venture Cup is a non-profil organization, and sees no gain in taking part of the contestant's business ideas for any other reason than the competition itself. We respect all companies immaterial rights, and expect the same from our contestants, network and partners who may use our material. We ask that anyone refrains from posting irrelevant comments on our digital platform, or any distribution of modified material belonging to Venture Cup Sverige.
With that said, we warmly welcome anyone who is interested in helping us to spred knowledge and information about Venture Cup and our competitions. We ask that you refer to the information directly from our website, digital platform or official social media channels.

Please keep in mind when you submit your entry into our competitions that public use of copyrighted material is an infringement to the copyright owners rights.

For the Regional Final of STARTUP, the jury is divided into four regional groups, where the jury members are often locals of each respective region. For the National Final, when the finalists are competing nationally, the jury consists of a mix of members from all regions, with a slightly larger representation of the region in which the National Final is held the current year. The National Final is held in different regions from one year to another.

IDEA

When deadline have passed all ideas will be submitted to the screening jury. Through the screening process the top 50 ideas will be selected and furthermore evaluated by the jury. The jury appoints the national Top 20 list.

STARTUP

All entries are evaluated through a screeningprocess where the screening jury decide which 10 will be nominated in the regional finals. The nominated startups will present and pitch their startup during the jury meeting where the winners will be decided. The winners will not be revealed until the regional finals.

Of course you can compete again if you have a new business idea.

Venture Cup's goal is to be the obvious choice for everyone with a new business idea in Sweden, to turn to for a process of guidence, feedback and networking opportunities in the startup phase of their business.

Venture Cup exists as a tool within the innovation system, for entrepreneurs.

Venture Cup was founded in 1998 by McKinsey & Company, together with Chalmers and Göteborg University, who saw a need to support entrepreneurs and the construction of new sustainable growth.

Amongst Venture Cup's former contestants you will find companies such as Hövding, Naked JuiceBar, LensWay and Parkster.

It depends on your company. Venture Cup’s purpose is to help new business ideas in the early stages. Therefore, we think it is an unfair advantage for established companies with a strong economy and good growth competing against ideas that have not yet started their business or are at a very early stage. You cannot participate in the competition if your business have received more than 100,000 SEK (for IDEA) or 1,000,000 SEK (for STARTUP) in funding or revenue. Loans, economical support and grants are not to be included in the calculation.

All ideas that meet competition standards will get feedback written by people from our professional network. The ideas that do not live up to the competition standards will get feedback in the form of bits of advice on how to develop your idea and how to pitch it to reach the next level.

By competition standard, we refer to that the entry is complete, is following the rules stated (read more about this at the digital plattform), and is described in a way which makes it possible for the jury to evaluate it according to the set criteria for the competition.

Ideas that are submitted to the competition will receive feedback throughout the competition process.

Ideas submitted in the last two weeks of the submission period may receive feedback after the competition has closed, due to the high workload on our professional network who volunteer after working hours.

The advantage of submitting the idea early on in the competition, is that you have the chance to get more response to your idea through feedback, but also by increasing your chances to catch someone in the network's interest, e g stakeholders or other potentially important contacts in Venture Cup's network.

The process is developed to add the most value to those who submit early since they are given a chance to take action on the given feedback, develop their idea and get more feedback on the updated version of their entry. It is the final version that's on the platform at the time of the deadline, that will count as your entry into the competition and the version the screening group and jury will take into consideration.

2. Tag your idea at the digital platform with the topics that are related to your idea. You will find the tags at the bottom of the registration page for the competition. With relevant tags for your business idea, it will be easier for people in the professional network with expertise within that area to find and give feedback on your idea.

3. Promote your participation in the competition through e g social media posts, sharing by email and giving comments/feedback on your fellow competitors' ideas at the digital platform and refer back to your submitted idea.

4. Invite people from your professional network to participate in the Venture Cup community by them giving you feedback on your idea. The registration of a profile at the digital platform is simple, and it will only take a few minutes before they can start writing you feedback.

Maybe this is a good way to connect with someone you look up to?