Friends and Family #2
A weekly newsletter amplifying pitch competitions, accelerators (w/funding), and grant opportunities for founders across the globe.
Hi all,
Welcome to the second edition of the Friends and Family newsletter. Not much to say this week so I will keep it brief. First I want to thank everyone for subscribing and sharing with folks in their network. Additionally, I want to encourage black founders to check out the Commitments to Action for Black Founders spreadsheet. A founder shared with me last week that they reached out to an angel investor on this sheet and locked them in for their latest round! On with the show:
Organized By Deadline: Click on underlined link.
June 30, 2020 | African Cup Pitch Competition by South African Innovation Summit
Amount: Unclear (opportunity to pitch for funding)
A pitch competition put on by the South African Innovation Summit the Africa Cup aims to promote and develop the entrepreneurial creativity of startups who are disrupting the traditional ways of doing business. This is an opportunity for all early stage startups with high growth potential, scalability, and expansion plans to showcase their technologies while obtaining access to funding, new markets, and PR exposure.
Eligibility: Open to companies globally.
June 30, 2020 | Amber Grants
Amount: $4k
Amber Grants began in 1998 in honor of Amber Wigdahl, who died before fulfilling her dreams. Each month we award an Amber Grant of $4,000, and one of our 12 monthly recipients receives an additional $25,000 Amber Grant
Eligibility: Women owned businesses based in the United States.
June 30, 2020 | Poise Bounce Back Startup Grant
Amount: $15k
Poise® Brand is awarding 30 individual grants of $15,000 to help female entrepreneurs bounce back from financial hardships they’ve experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 of which have already been filled. Now through June 30, Poise Brand is accepting applications for 20 additional grants supporting women-owned businesses.
Eligibility: Women owned businesses based in the United States that have less than 500 employees.
July 1, 2020 | Arch Grants Global Startup Competition
Amount: $50k (early stage to seed, all industries)
A global startup competition spanning all industries for early stage companies.
Eligibility: 51% of the founding team or one founder and 51% of the team needs to live in St. Louis for the program year. The business needs to locate headquarters or significant operations in the St. Louis.
July 3, 2020 | Glossier Grant for Black Owned Beauty Businesses
Amount: $15k (pre-launch), $30k (early-stage), $50k (growth stage)
A grant initiative by Glossier for black owned businesses.
Eligibility: U.S based businesses, 51% or more black owned. Founder must be 18+ and the business must sell physical beauty products (cosmetics, products or tools for face, body or hair)
July 3,2020 | Vinetta Project DC Venture Challenge
Amount: $20K
Pitch competition for DC based women founders. Vinetta's Venture Challenge is a 3-part pitch competition series featuring the best in high growth potential, women-led startups. Watch and learn as Vinetta’s panel of elite investors and seasoned CEOs ask tough questions and deliver actionable feedback.
Eligibility - Female founders building tech companies based in DC.
July 6, 2020 | Pre-3
Amount: $20k (equity free funding)
Pre18 startups will receive USD $20,000 in equity-free funding and will participate in 12 weeks of pre-accelerator curriculum. Top-performing startups in the program will have an opportunity to automatically be passed to the selection committee for an opportunity to be evaluated to participate in the Parallel18 accelerator program
Pre18 is a program dedicated to help innovative early stage Puerto Rican startups, that have global potential, to get to market. #PalMundo
Eligibility - Early stage startups based in Puerto Rico.
July 12, 2020 | Entrepreneurship World Cup
Amount: up to $1 million in cash prizes, $75 million in in-kind support
The Entrepreneurship World Cup is open for 2020 and is accepting applications – aiming to expand past the 102,000 contestants from 187 countries in its first year. The program, hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, the Misk Foundation, and TGELF, offers startups the chance to pitch on a global stage for a share of US$1 million in cash prizes, investment opportunities, and US$75 million of in-kind support. Ultimately, EWC is more than just a global pitch competition. It elevates entrepreneurs from all stages -- idea-stage, early-stage, growth-stage or beyond – by providing them with tools, mentorship, and resources to grow their venture. The EWC online platform also offers all contestants who complete their applications access to more than $25,000 in perks from partners such as Google Cloud, Hubspot, Carta Stripe and more.
Eligibility: Open to companies globally.
July 13, 2020 | MIT Elevate Competition
Amount: $5M
The Elevate Prize offers $5 million in prize funding, professional development services, and connections to a powerful network of influencers, industry leaders, and subject-matter experts.
“We need far more than influencers and brands that shape viewer opinions and purchasing patterns. As people feel increasingly powerless against global crises such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we need leaders and role models around the world—global heroes—with energy, ideas, solutions, and results that can elevate humanity, inspire movements, mobilize people, and catalyze positive, transformational change.
The Elevate Prize is seeking to find, support, and shine a spotlight on these heroes, creating a multiplier effect that will allow them to more easily scale their work, impact more lives, and inspire others to tackle issues in their own communities—igniting a chain reaction of goodness across the world. Specifically, we are looking for extraordinary people leading high-impact projects and organizations who are:
Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind
Elevating issues and their solutions by building awareness and driving action to solve the most difficult problems of our world
Elevating understanding of and between people through changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
July 15, 2020 | Drone X Challenge 2020
Amount: $1M final prize, $500k in r&d
DXC aims at accelerating the practical deployment of drones in key applications focusing on transportation and delivery. DXC will support innovative solutions that tackle two major challenges: payload capacity, and flight endurance.
DXC 2020 is open to entrepreneurs, start-ups, R&Ds, university students and companies. The winner should offer an innovative, inventive, or disruptive product/service, which is agile, original, and has scalable commercial applications.
Drone X Challenge has two categories:
• Fixed Wing Drones
• Multi-Rotors Drones
Eligibility: Companies globally.
Rolling | Black Founder Startup Grant
Amount: (3) $10k grants (6) $5k grants.
A grant program for Black women or nonbinary entrepreneurs. Awardees will also receive tactical help navigating the fundraising environment at large so that they will have a more equitable opportunity at scaling the next billion dollar idea. They will also receive lifetime “ask-me-anything” access to the SoGal Foundation and SoGal Ventures teams.
Eligibility: –Founders should self-identify as a Black woman or Black nonbinary entrepreneur, have a legally registered business, plan to seek investor financing in order to scale, now or in the future, have a scalable, high-impact solution or idea with the ambition to be the next billion dollar business.Rolling | Black Founder Startup Grant
Rolling | Mozilla COVID-19 Solutions Fund
Amount: $50k
Through this fund, Mozilla will provide awards up to $50,000 each to open source technology projects which are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in some way.
Eligibility: Will accept applications from any type of legal entity, awardees are expected to use all funds within three months of receiving the award.
Rolling | Twitch Pitch by Lightship Capital
Amount: Prizes start at the second round, 6→ $500 6 → Winner takes $5,000. There will be $8,000 in cash prizes per season, plus $100,000 in Amazon Credits.
“Twitch Pitch is the new world way for startups to pitch real investors and get completely uncensored feedback, in real-time! This competition is powered by Lightship Capital, the awesome venture capital firm focusing on inclusion and investment in underrepresented people and places. “
Eligibility - U.S based for-profit companies.
As always if I can be helpful shoot me an email at denisha.kuhlor@grasshopper.bank
D (@denishakuhlor)