Application

All startup companies that were founded no more than 6 years ago (as per 28nd of June 2023), that do not have more than 50 permanent employees, that are organized under private-law and that are not partly owned by the state or are a subdivision of it are eligible to take part. Please check the Conditions of Participation for more details.

The pitch deck that you upload for your application, should include all information you want to share with the jury to convince them that you should be selected as one of the finalists. If you are selected as one of the finalists, you can of course use a different pitch deck for your live pitch on stage.

You are welcome to apply for more than one category. However, we will choose six finalists. This means you can only pitch for one category.

The application and participation for Innovators’ Pitch competition is completely free.

Each category will have an expert jury that will select the winners at the Innovators’ Pitch on June 28nd. The jury will also choose the finalists, who will be invited to pitch. For that reason, we will share your information and your pitch deck with the members of the jury – but of course, the jury and we will keep your application confidential. Here you can find our privacy statement.

The winners of the Innovators’ Pitch get 10,000 euros per category as prize money, as well as a free one-year Bitkom Get Started membership for companies fulfilling the requirements for a Bitkom Get Started membership (see our conditions). Finalists from previous years were furthermore not only pleased with the media attention after the pitch, but they also succeeded in obtaining concrete financing.