Deadline: February 18, 2026
Applications are open for the Snowflake Startup Challenge 2026. Snowflake and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) join forces once again to ignite innovation and empower Al startups around the world with the Snowflake Startup Challenge!
The Snowflake Startup Challenge is a global competition for developers and early-stage startups to build innovative data applications that serve an unmet market need using Snowflake as a key part of their infrastructure. Startups compete for the opportunity to receive marketing exposure, exposure to sponsoring venture capitalists, and the potential to receive funding from Snowflake.
Benefits
Potential Investments:
- Up to $500,000 for the winner.
- Up to $250,000 for each of the other two companies in the top 3.
Prizes
- 10 Semi-finalists
- Blog featuring your application and team
- 3 Finalists
- Feature on select marketing channels
- Present at Snowflake Summit in front of investors and customers
- 2 free passes for Snowflake Summit
- 1:1 consultation session with the CEO of Snowflake
- Dedicated mentorship from an industry leader at a company listed on the NYSE
- Participation of the NYSE Bell Ring
- (Plus semi finalist prize)
- Winner
- Additional co-marketing opportunities from Snowflake and NYSE
- (Plus finalist prize) Support
Eligibility
- Open to valid entities (each, a “Startup”) that:
- If in the United States, are C corporations or LLCs, and if outside the United States, are equivalent entities in the jurisdictions that the Startups were formed and/or incorporated; and
- Are in good standing and in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, rules, and ordinances (collectively “Laws”) in each jurisdiction in which they were formed and/or incorporated and are operating and are permitted by the Laws of each such jurisdiction to enter and compete in this Contest.
- They are looking for unique SaaS and AI applications that harness large volumes of complex data to solve high impact problems that, if solved, can result in a large market opportunity.
- Applications should leverage Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud as the core platform, utilizing its advanced capabilities to power transformative solutions.
Judging Criteria
The entries will be judged according to the following criteria:
- Business potential, including market opportunity, business model, and the degree to which it complements Snowflake and helps Snowflake users.
- Innovation, including the application’s uniqueness, competitive edge, AI readiness, defined as its dual AI impact: (1) leveraging disruptive AI components, and (2) reshaping the AI industry or ecosystem.
- Snowflake leverage, including utilization of a broad feature set such as Snowflake Cortex, Secure Data Sharing, Snowpark, Snowpark Container Services, Hybrid Tables, Snowflake Postgres, Snowflake Native App Framework, User-Defined Functions (UDFs), multi-cluster warehouse, Time Travel, and VARIANT data type.
- The team’s leadership experience and ability to execute.
Application
To apply,
- Build an application that is dependent on Snowflake as a core part of its architecture
- Submit a demo video (up to five minutes) and a description of your application before the deadline
- Semifinalists will be required to submit an investor-pitch video recording (up to five minutes) and provide access to their application
- Be an entity that has not received any cash funding through the sale of equity securities, including through a Series A or other priced round of funding
For more information, visit Snowflake Startup Challenge.
