On May 7h, 10 of Croatia’s best seed stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Seedstars Summit and win up to USD 1 million in equity investment. Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes is coming to Croatia for the 1st time. Together with of international technological conference Techne Summit, Seedstars World will be holding a dynamic pitch event in Dubrovnik where 10 selected croatian seed stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Regional and Global Summits of Seedstars World.
The line up of jury members, speakers and mentors of the Seedstars Dubrovnik competition will include Dražen Nikolić – Co-Director of Founder Institute, Zagreb chapter, Kristijan Ravnić – Project coordinator for Startup Factory Zagreb, Fadi Bishara – Founder & CEO of Blackbox, Erik Katz — Managing Director of Hardware Hackers/Founders, Katarina Szulenyiova, CEO at Seedstars World.
In line with its mission to place the spotlight on entrepreneurs from emerging markets, Seedstars World is travelling to more than 65 countries this year to identify the best seed-stage entrepreneurs and provide them with an opportunity to win up to USD 1 million and network with investors and mentors from around the world. Its previous participants have raised over USD 61M collectively, providing employment to more than 800 employees worldwide.
The companies selected to pitch at the Seedstars Dubrovnik event need to be less than 2 years old, have raised less than USD 500,000 in funding and have built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. The Seedstars World team is searching for one additional criterion – the startup’s regional and global scalability. With a strong network of international partners such as BBVA, Merck, Enel, Trecc, Standard Bank and Deloitte, Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and develop profitable products for the global market, to support their regional businesses and growth.
“Seedstars World is a platform connecting investors to the next generation of startup entrepreneurs, pulling the spotlight from Silicon Valley and Western Europe. As this will be our 1st time to organize our event in Dubrovnik, our excitement level and expectations are high. We have heard so much about the bustling startup ecosystem in Croatia and we are now here to witness the reality” explains Katarina Szulenyiova, CEO at Seedstars World, “We are impressed by what we have seen in the continent so far and cannot wait to add startups from Croatia on our map.”
Up to 10 of the best seed stage startups in Croatia will be invited to pitch for the opportunity to compete at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.
About Seedstars
“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.” – Mexican proverb
Seedstars is a Swiss based group of companies which has the goal of impacting people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Seedstars connects stakeholders within these ecosystems, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high growth startups. Through different activities of startup scouting, company building and acceleration programs, the team has now access to entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations and government officials from 60+ countries. The Seedstars group includes:
– Seedstars World, a worldwide startup competition, sourcing in 60+ emerging markets the top talent from these regions
– Seedstars Growth, a three month virtual acceleration program
– Seedspace a network of coworking and co-living spaces now in 25+ countries
– Seedstars Academy, a six months program to train aspiring local entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses, currently running in Nigeria and Ivory Coast