More than 1500 start-ups from Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America applied to participate in Seedstars World. During its world tour in 2014, Nellie Horn and Julien Berthomier, Seedstars World's Global Scouts, hosted local competitions in 36 countries to find the best locally grown start-ups.
After nine months on the road, Seedstars World will be welcoming all the start-up finalists for the grand final in Switzerland. Countries represented at Seedstars World include: Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Serbia, Iran, the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland and founded by Alisee de Tonnac and Pierre-Alain Masson, the competition is supported by the venture builder Seedstars SA. After its first successful edition in 2013 across 20 cities, SSW expanded its competition massively to more than 30 countries. Every regional event featured up to 20 start-ups, during which they had to prove their worth in six minutes of pitching time and withstand the questions from a local jury of experts (investors, accelerator directors and successful entrepreneurs). Regional winners are then invited back to Geneva for the grand final.
"Seedstars World is the culmination of a nine-month search for the world's most innovative tech start-up outside Silicon Valley," explained Alisee de Tonnac, Seedstars World CEO. "Seedstars World will hold its worldwide competition every year and we are expecting to grow exponentially to all the corners of the world."
Start-up finalists will take part in a three-day boot camp, organised in partnership with EPFL, the leading European engineering school. International investors and mentors from top accelerators like BBooster, The Founder's Institute, Chinaccelerator as well as from the business strategy consultancy Galixo will coach them on their business model.
The winner of the global start-up competition will be announced during the final event, hosted on the first day of the Lift Conference, one of the top innovation and tech conferences in Europe. The Seedstars World winner will be chosen by a jury composed of top investors such as Johnny el Hachem, the CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity, Seedstars World's investment partner, Jose Marin the founder of Serendipity Investments and Jessica Thorell of Investment AB Kinnevik; and top entrepreneurs such as Jens Lapinski, the MD of Techstars and Marco Corradino, the co-founder of Bravofly Group.
Seedstars World looks for smart start-ups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market. In Cape Town, Lumkani designed a fire alarm for slum environments. After winning the regional event in South Africa in July 2014, Lumkani CEO David Gluckman said stated: "We're very excited to head to Seedstars World and share our product with the global community."
