We’re excited to announce our official partnership with the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition (IEIC) to bring UK entrepreneurs an exciting opportunity to win £100,000. Working alongside InteBridge Capital and the Shenzhen Government, Seedrs will be hosting the UK divisional round in London in March.
The competition, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and the Shenzhen Government, is one of the largest international competitions for entrepreneurship offering a total prize pool of £1 Million in equity free cash.
Jason Wu Managing Partner at InteBridge Capital said “Seedrs was the obvious choice for InteBridge as our UK partner, not least because the business has garnered a lot of respect in the VC world, but also because the team is so passionate about the startup ecosystem and really understands the innovative businesses coming out of Britain. We look forward to launching the competition and uncovering some seriously exciting talent in the UK.”
The competition is open to companies within five sectors: Electronics, Life Science, Advanced Manufacturing, Materials & Energy, Internet. Four successful entries from each sector will win a place in the top 20 for the UK region.
The top 20 will go on to pitch their business to a panel of experts at the London divisional round on 28th March 2017 at Seedrs HQ in the heart of London’s Tech City. Winners of the divisional round will receive:
- 1st Place – £10,000
- 2nd Place – £5,000
- 3rd Place – £3,000
The top 10 companies (top two entries from each sector) from the London divisional round will be flown on an all expenses paid trip to Shenzhen – the Silicon Valley of China and home to Tencent, Huawei and Lenovo – in April to pitch alongside other international divisional winners for the chance to win a grand prize of £100,000 cash.
Entrepreneurs from innovative growth focused businesses from all over the world are invited to enter one of eight national competitions held in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, India and Germany.
Our CEO, Jeff Lynn, expressed what a great opportunity this is for UK entrepreneurs: “As a leading voice in the UK’s startup ecosystem and the most active investor in private companies in 2016, Seedrs is honoured to host this competition in our London HQ. Not only is a huge cash injection up for grabs, but IEIC is giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch in front of some of the leading investors and mentors in the early stage arena.
“IEIC is building bridges amongst global startup communities and will be an invaluable experience to ambitious young business founders. Seedrs itself is a company with a truly international outlook, with investors and entrepreneurs from more than 60 countries using the platform, so it is fitting that we can offer innovative startups in the UK a global investment opportunity.”
Applications for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition are open until 28th February 2017. You can enter the competition here.
