|
We would like to clarify the selection process and criteria for EMERGE CHALLENGE startup competition. We understood that not all the participants have previous experience in international startup competitions with the 1-winner prize.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Criteria for participation in EMERGE CHALLENGE:
- has received from 0 to €1 million in funding to date
- develops a global product
- has a working prototype
- has some first traction (e.g. paying customers, downloads, signups etc)
Criteria for judging during 1/4 Finals, 1/2 Finals, Finals:
1/ Product / Market
Is the product concept well developed?
Is the prototype ready?
Does the product actually solve a big problem?
2/ Team
Is the core team formed?
Does the team have relevant expertise in the industry of the startup?
Has the team been working together for long?
Does the team have strong leadership?
Does the team have prior entrepreneurial experience?
3/ Business Model
Are the revenue sources clear and feasible?
Does the team know how to actually manage business?
Does the startup have already real users/customers?
Does the team generate revenue already?
4/ Unique Sales Proposition
Does the company have a strong competitive advantage over its competitors?
Does the team know the market quite well?
Does the team have any patents or potential to get a one?
5/ Global Growth Potential
Does the product solve a global problem?
Does the team plan to expand globally?
Are there any barriers to enter other markets/countries and can the product be scaled there easily?
Can their business model work in any country, with developed, developing, emerging economies?
6/ Overall presentation
As this is a pitching competition in the first place, the presentation should also be great.
Scorecard: Each jury had to asses each startup based on each criterion from 1 (low = not so good) to 5 (high = very good) score.
SELECTION PROCESS
You all were selected out of 200+ startup applications from 30+ countries.
1/4 FINALS
At Founders Day, pre-day of the conference, we hosted 1/4 Finals with 92 startups pitching on two stages. Due to a high number of startups and limited time of one day, we had to run pitches at two parallel stages. During 1/4 Finals startups were split into themed batches based on the industry or technology so that we could allocate juries who are experts in the field of the pitch batch.
We hosted 10 batches in total with the following themes:
1) Batch 1 - Healthtech / Wellness, 10 startups
juries:
Alina Bezuglova, co-founder of EMERGE
Irina Hliabovich, Business angel
Ksenia Sholina, Head of new products, Valenta
2) Batch 2 - 8 startups, Agritech, Cleantech
Danil Khasanshin, CEO of the CMTT publishing house (vc.ru, TJournal.ru, spark.ru)
Aleksander Mokrecki, StarFinder Capital Fund, Investment Director
Alexander Chekan, Haxus, Partner
3) Batch 3 - Hardware, IoT, Robotics, Logistics, 7 startups
Dmitry Kurilo, Facebook / MSQRD, Engineering
Aleksandr Tonnison, Buildit Accelerator, Co-founder & CEO
Rustem Akishbekov, Arkley VC, Partner
4) Batch 4 - 10 startups, Enterprise Solutions
Aleksander Mokrecki, StarFinder Capital Fund, Investment Director
Daniel Hastik, Nextech Ventures, Partner
Oleksandr Komarevych, LVenture Group, Business Analyst
5) Batch 5 - Edtech, HR tech, Martech / Adtech, Proptech, 13 startups
Alex Petrov, Mercaux, Co-Founder & CTO
Alexander Sumin, ClaimCompass, Founder
Kirill Polikarpov, Admitad Invest, Head of Marketing / CEO at Admitad Belarus
6) Batch 6 - 11 startups, Platform / Community / Marketplace
Antonina Binetskaya, Stack by Appodeal, CPO
Konstantin Gnyp, Runa Capital, Senior Investment Analyst
Valentin Toc, Rubik Hub, Community Builder
7) Batch 7 - AI-based solutions, 9 startups
Igor Douplitzky, Orange Fab Scouting, Director, Business Development with Startups
Ivan Kopytov, Microsoft, Startup manager
Kirill Tiufanov, Ruhub.de, Founder, Investor
8) Batch 8 - 8 startups, Fintech / Blockchain, Cybersecurity
Dmitry Levkovich, Softline Eastern Europe & Central Asia, CFO
Kamila Chmielewska, Huge Thing by SpeedUp Group, Startup Support & Program Coordinator
Maxim Ermilov, Strategy&, Managing Partner
9) Batch 9 - Retail / E-Commerce, 10 startups
Alexey Menn, Begin Capital Partners, Managing Partner
Olga Dorofeeva, SmartHub VC, Managing Partner
Daria Reutovich, Rockstart Accelerator, Associate Director Accelerator Programs
10) Batch 10 - 9 startups, Travel, Entertainment & Lifestyle, VR/AR solutions
Dmitry Filatov, Sistema VC, President
Artem Gordin, Google, Manager, Export
Dmitry Kurilo, Facebook / MSQRD, Engineering
Each jury filled in the scorecard with their scores from 1 to 5 for each criterion. After all pitches, the organisers collected all scorecards and calculated the total score for each startup by summing up scores for each criterion. Later we brought together all startup scores into one excel spreadsheet from high to low score. The top 50 startups were selected into 1/2 Finals.
1/2 FINALS
1/2 Finals was split into two batches based on the alphabetic order of startup names. We split 50 pitches into two batches so that the audience could have a break between presentations. Each batch had a different jury panel. It was done on purpose because it’s impossible to keep concentration listening for 50 presentations (each was 3 min long followed by 2 min Q&A) in one go for any jury, that’s why we invited different people for each batch.
1/2 Finals Jury:
1 panel:
Dmitrij Sosunov, Startup Wise Guys, Partner (Lithuania)
Pavel Liber, EPAM, Digital Strategy & Experience Design Senior Director (Belarus)
Diana Lace, Overkill Ventures, Investment and Operations Director (Latvia)
Piotr Wasowski, ArkleyBrinc VC, Founder & CEO (Poland)
Irina Yashina, the Untitled Ventures, Portfolio Manager (Russia)
Pavel Bogdanov, Almaz Capital, General Partner (Germany)
2 panel:
Alexander Uvarov, MTS Startup Hub, Head of Tech Scouting (Russia)
Alexander Chekan, Haxus, Partner (Belarus)
Ilya Inozemtsev, FunCubator, Executive Manager (Russia)
Vicky-Marie Gibbons, Facebook, Programme Manager, Platform partnerships (UK)
Herman Poleschuk, SLON MEDIA, CEO (Belarus)
Bas Godska, Acrobator Ventures (Netherlands)
FINALS
Finals Jury:
Sergey Gribov, Flint Capital, Partner (USA)
Dan Lupu, Earlybird Venture Capital, Partner (Germany)
Rune Theil, Rockstart Accelerator, Co-Founder&CEO (Netherlands)
Vital Laptenok, Genesis Investments, CEO (Ukraine)
Andrei Avsievich, Bulba Ventures, Partner&Co-Founder (Belarus)
Ruthy Kaidar, Microsoft, Chief Startups & SW Partners Technological Lead & CEE (Israel)
You can find the documents with scores and can see the scores here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zS-0y9kMOgIyrNcJCSu38mIfc5ccUU1X6ygOXdwMlr0/edit?usp=sharing
|
