Deadline: March 28, 2025
Applications are open for the Startup Global Pitch Competition 2025. The Startup Global Pitch Competition is for early-stage entrepreneurs looking to export their products and/or services outside of Canada. Ten finalists will be flown out to Mississauga to compete for their chance to win from a cash prize pool of $70,000 to grow their business!
Startup Canada is the gateway to Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem that points you in the right direction, eliminates barriers, and champions your needs to private and public sector partners. They connect you with support organizations and peers across the country with industry expertise, regional knowledge, and funding to help you start and build successful businesses.
Prizes
The winner of each Pop-up Pitch Competition at the Startup Canada Tour stops will win a $3,000 cash prize. In the Grand Finale, the top 10 pitchers will be competing for one of the following prizes:
- 1st Place: $30,000
- 2nd Place: $15,000
- 3rd Place: $7,500
- People’s Choice Award: $2,500
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Startup Global Pitch Competition, you must meet the following criteria:
- The intention/ability to export and expand your business internationally.
- Less than $1,000,000 in revenue, as of February 3, 2025.
- Less than $1,000,000 in fundraising or investment (grants, bank loans, equity funding), as of February 3, 2025.
- Less than 5 years of operating your business, as of February 3, 2025.
- Have business/operations based in Canada.
Note these additional eligibility details:
- Employees of Startup Canada (and their immediate family members) are ineligible to apply.
- Submissions may be entered as individuals or teams, however, the maximum number of team members for a single pitch is limited to one person per company.
- A company may only submit one pitch to be considered for adjudication.
- For the Grand Finale, only one representative of the company may pitch to the panel of judges or answer questions from the judges and/or audience. For in-person pitches, the person that pitches at a Tour stop must be the person that pitches at the Grand Finale.
Judging Criteria
The criteria focus on answering one important question, “What is your potential to scale globally?” To help answer this question, the panel of judges will assess your business under the following criteria:
- Target market: Is there a clearly defined target market? Businesses that have clearly outlined their target audience will be able to identify the potential for scaling globally, such as understanding the current size and potential growth of a target market, the volatility or stability of a target market, or identifying particular characteristics like a high-priced niche.
- Objective: All solutions are built to fix an identified problem, but not all problems need scalable solutions. Does your business solve a problem from a short-term trend? Or is there a real long-term need for your solution? Businesses that have the potential to go global have long-run, sustainable business models.
- Solution: Businesses with a detailed, innovative solution with a strong unique selling proposition (USP) will be more likely to scale globally. This criterion assesses your overall product or service, for instance, price, convenience, uniqueness, innovation, quality, efficiency, and branding.
- Leadership: What does your leadership team look like? Does your team, mentors or board of advisors have industry experience, key relationships, and/or prior successes and failures? These are crucial facets in determining whether your business has the support and guidance to help successfully expand globally.
- Traction (if any): A key indicator of being able to scale globally is a detailed assessment of the trajectory of a solution. This includes evaluating the minimum viable product (MVP), and existing partners.
- Competition: Going global means stacking up against an international community of innovators and entrepreneurs; how does your business stand out? Why should a customer choose your solution over another?
- Ability to go global: This criterion hopes to help the panel of judges ultimately answer the question, “Do you think this contestant has the potential to scale globally?”
Application
There are two ways to participate in the 2025 Startup Global Pitch Competition. You can pitch in-person at one of the four Startup Canada Tour stops or virtually.
For more information, visit Startup Global Pitch Competition.
