Startup Pitch Competition
The Sabaragamuwa University Startup Pitch Competition is an event for undergraduate students to expose their innovative products, technologies, services, prototypes or business ideas to an expert panel of investors, venture capitalists and academics which will be held parallel to the 2nd Applied Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium organized by the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (SUSL).
Eligibility
1
The competition is open to all undergraduate students from universities and higher education institutes recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
2
Participants must have active enrollments as undergraduates at one of the institutions recognized by UGC and can take part in this event as individuals or teams. A team shall comprise a maximum of three members.
Terms and Conditions
1
The concepts, products or services, which are hereinafter collectively referred to as products, proposed and presented by the participants in the competition should be new and original. If it is a product or technology that is presented, it must have been originated in year 2021 or later.
2
If there is already a business or company associated with the product proposed in the competition, it should be at its early stages of equity financing (“pre-seed” or “seed”).
3
The sum of equity shares of all third-party investors involved should not exceed 25% at the time of the pitch.
4
Participant may include information on any patents or scientific publications relevant to the pitch in the application.
5
By submitting the application for the competition, all participants
agree to comply with the
Code of Ethics developed by the University Business Linkage
Cell
(UBLC) of SUSL on
intellectual property rights. Those who breach this contract will be immediately
disqualified
from the competition.
6
The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka reserves the right to eliminate the participant from the competition at any stage of the competition if the conditions (1), (2) or (3) above are not met by the participant.
Application Process
1
2
Prospective participants of the event should submit their application online available at Form Link to gain preliminary access to the competition.
3
4
Duly completed applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts and the applicants will be notified of acceptance into the competition.
Competition
Step 1
Once admitted into the competition, the participant will be asked to submit a short video (no longer than three minutes) briefly describing the intended pitch for organizers to determine if it would fit the standards of the competition.
Step 2
Those who progress further in the competition then will get an opportunity to work with our communications expert to improve the intended pitch.
Step 3
Participants then will be invited to deliver the final pitch (of no longer than five minutes with additional time to answer questions from the panel) to a panel of judges comprising investors, venture capitalists and academics, and general audience.
Step 4
Successful pitch decks may be offered funding opportunities by investors in the panel to move ahead with the startup, and mentoring and guidance from UBLC to develop and further the business ideas.
Step 5
Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three pitch decks ( 🥇 25000 LKR , 🥈 15000 LKR and 🥉 10000 LKR respectively) as evaluated and selected separately by the judging panel and the winners will be featured on social media of the faculty as well as in the university social media.
Step 6
Other selected pitch decks will be recognized with certificates awarded by the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.
Evaluation and Assessment
The panel of judges may consider, but not limited to, how the following factors and issues relevant to the proposed startup are discussed, presented, clarified and defended during the pitch for evaluation and assessment of the startup.
The product description and the intended problem to solve
Market research statistics
Competing products and companies, and product comparison.
Business model of the startup
Current product development stage
Live demonstration of product or proof of product functionality
Prospective developments to the product
Current distribution of equity among current investors if any
Prospective product unit price and anticipated profit margin
Reliability of the product and revenue model, and risks involved
Timeline of key stages of the business
Authenticity of the product, participant and pitch
Overall efficiency and effectiveness of the pitch
The panel of judges will make decisions on the evaluation and assessment criteria employed and results of the competition.
Disclaimer
The Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka:
1
Shall not held liable for the dissemination of the material presented and shared by participants during the competition to a third party.
2
Will not move to discourage or disallow the dissemination of material presented and shared by participants during the competition to a third party.
3
Waives the right to ownership of the intellectual property of the material disseminated during the competition, hence shall not be held liable for infringement of intellectual property rights of participants by a third party.
Copyright Ownership
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka will own the copyright to all audio and visual media, and creative work of the event. It also reserves the right to record such media of the participants subjected to verbal consent by the participants and publish them in its sole discretion.
For Further Information
| Ms. AMC Malkanthi | Dr. Sadeera Bandara |
|---|---|
| Symposium Secretary | Cooridinator - Startup Pitch Competition |
| secretary@apsurs.sab.ac.lk | sadeera@appsc.sab.ac.lk |
| 0701589889 | 0774432022 |
