Here’s all you have to do, get up on stage, pitch your startup before prominent judges and an audience, and get a chance to win some cash, tickets, and more. Well, there are a few more details, read on!
Brinc, a global IOT accelerator, and C5 Accelerate, a technology innovation firm, and an architect of the Cloud10 Scalerator program, are organizing “FACE-OFF ON THE BAY”, a pitch competition supported by StartUp Bahrain at The Bahrain Technology Week Pavilion running on from September 27th to the 28th. But let’s be honest, it’s all about that cash to grow your startup.
The Bahrain Technology Week Pavilion is a collaboration between the Economic Development Board, Amazon Web Services, and the StartUp Bahrain community. Throughout the awesome activity-packed week for startups, starting from the 25th, the pavilion will host and feature exciting activities including a panel discussion by Polytechnic, UoB, BIBF, and One GCC, amongst others, a breakfast conversation on “Women In Tech”, organized by C5 Accelerate and AWS, and an opportunity to listen to the story behind PayFort (recently acquired by Amazon through the Souq acquisition) at a Rowad Talk, by none other than its CEO, Omar Al-Suadodi.
“FACE-OFF ON THE BAY” will pit Bahraini and international tech and tech-enabled companies against each other for the title of “StartUp Bahrain Champion” for a whopping $50,000 first place cash prize. Startups will pitch their companies to a live audience of industry influencers and enthusiasts and a prominent judging panel comprised of industry leaders and entrepreneurs.
The action-packed Technology Week activities will take place only two minutes away from the AWS Summit and the MITEF Innovation Forum at the Bahrain Four Seasons. The summit will bring together the cloud computing community to connect, collaborate and learn more about AWS in Bahrain, for the first time in the Middle East. Attendees will be spending a full-day with AWS experts to learn how Amazon’s customers are innovating and growing their businesses through AWS. Register here to the summit if you haven’t already!
Don’t miss the live coverage of the summit and competition by following the @startupbahrain accounts on Instagram and Twitter.
The finalists will be chosen by a selected group of prominent judges, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and peers. Here’s what you can win:
- First place wins $50,000 in cash put together by Tamkeen Bahrain.
- Tickets to the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, with $13,000 in paid travel expenses.
- The second place wins $20,000 cash.
- The most innovative startup will win a Cloud10 Scalerator scholarship, AWS cloud credits.
- The StartUp Bahrain community’s most-liked choice award on the @startupbahrain Instagram account wins $5,000.
- Personal introductions to a strategic business leaders.
- Inclusion as part of a community of innovative entrepreneurs.
Here’s the rundown of what’s going to happen during FACE-OFF ON THE BAY pitching competition:
The competition will be divided into two rounds, ten startups will compete against each other, with two winners from each round.
- Round 1: Two heats with ten startups facing off for the top two spots from each group on the 26th of September.
- Round 2: The top two teams from both groups of heat one and two will face-off on the 27th of September for the first and second place.
Excited yet? Here’s what’s needed to apply to the “FACE-OFF ON THE BAY” competition at The Bahrain Technology Week Pavilion:
- Fill in the application form here.
- Startups need to be in one of those stages: seed stage, early-stage/validated, or growth and scale.
- Startups need to be tech or tech-enabled with a presence in Bahrain, exhibit at the Technology Week tent for a minimum of two days, and be willing to attend Web Summit Lisbon.
Excited for the competition? Because we surely can’t wait for it to happen. Interested startups can apply to the competition here. You can find out more about the competition including competing groups or heats, judging criteria and the agenda, in the application form.
Don’t forget to follow StartUp Bahrain on Instagram and Twitter for some awesome live coverage of the pitching competition. Hope to see you all there! #techweekbh
What are you waiting for? Hurry up and register now!
