Deadline: June 30, 2025
Applications are invited for the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) 2025. The Entrepreneurship World Cup is one of the largest and most diverse pitch competitions and support programs of its kind. Every year, tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from 200 countries compete for US$1 million dollars in cash prizes and millions more worth of investment, support and publicity through national pitch competitions, bootcamps and a global finals event attended by leading investors.
However, the Entrepreneurship World Cup is more than just a pitch competition. Co-hosted by Monsha’at and the Global Entrepreneurship Network with support from more than 100 partners world-wide, the competition connects applicants at all levels – from idea stage through growth stage – with world-class connections, resources and mentorship opportunities to enhance their skills and take their ventures to the next level, regardless of whether or not they top the podium.
Prizes
The Entrepreneurship World Cup is all about the entire experience – connections, resources, mentorship and more. But on top of that, they’ve got a great number of impactful prizes – USD $1.5 million (5,625,000 SAR) in cash and/or investment total for the global winners plus in-kind support for the top 100 global finalists.
Global Finals Cash Prizes: Early Stage: The top five (5) Early Stage finalists receive the following cash prizes.
- Early Stage Champion: $250,000
- 2nd Place: $200,000
- 3rd Place: $150,000
- 4th Place: $100,000
- 5th Place: $50,000
Global Finals Cash Prizes: Growth Stage – The top two (2) Growth Stage finalists receive the following cash prizes.
- Growth Stage Champion: $175,000
- 2nd Place: $100,000
Global Finals Cash Prizes: Sector-Specific – New to the Entrepreneurship World Cup in 2025 is a focus on space tech and startups in the space sector. Finalists from all three stages – Idea, Early and Growth – in the categories below will compete for the following cash prizes.
- SpaceTech for Mining: $100,000: Space mining is the process of extracting resources from asteroids and other celestial objects in space. It involves designing and deploying advanced technologies to scout for resources and extract them.
- SpaceTech for Sports Analytics: $100,000: The integration of machine learning and AI into sports analytics has elevated the precision of predictions and insights that are re-shaping athletics at all levels. New space technologies have the potential to disrupt the evaluation of player performance, deconstruct team strategies, and leverage historical data to better guide decision-making and predict outcomes.
- SpaceTech for Health Monitoring: $100,000: Wearable devices and monitors have become common tools for research on human health, but while they are convenient, they can be uncomfortable and require users to remember to wear them. New technologies are being developed to monitor vital signs in a way that is so unobtrusive that it is easy to forget monitoring is taking place.
- SpaceTech for Agriculture + Resource Management: $100,000: While space technology is transforming how we do things on Earth, it is perhaps in agriculture and resource management that the impact is being felt particularly strongly and has the potential to transform how the sector operates by 2030.
Global Finals Cash Prizes: Idea Stage – The top two (2) Idea Stage finalists receive the following cash prizes.
- Idea Stage Champion: $50,000
- 2nd Place: $25,000
Eligibility
- 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 (2019-2024) are eligible to participate again in 2025 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 Growth Stage winners are ineligible to participate as applicant candidates for EWC 2025.
- Any other 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 Early Stage or Growth Stage prize categories.
- EWC Applicants can only be eligible for different prize categories than the prize they earned during previous participation in the competition.
- Employees of the organizers, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotional agencies, suppliers and immediate family members are not eligible to participate in the competition.
Application
Startups answer the global call for participation and submit applications to compete in EWC 2025 before June 30, 2025.
For more information, visit Entrepreneurship World Cup.
