PITCH is Web Summit’s startup competition that brings the world’s most promising early-stage startups onstage for  an exciting live pitching battle. You will be the exclusive PITCH partner for the entire three-day event.

The top 60 startups will present their businesses in front of thousands of attendees and a panel of esteemed judges. Our judges are all leading figures from the media, our multinational partners, investment funds and VCs.

As the exclusive PITCH partner, your brand will be the centre of the competition and all media coverage associated with it. The competition will be referred to as “PITCH powered by [PARTNER]”, or alternative options such as“supported by” “in partnership with” “powered by”.

Onstage branding including:

• Branded PITCH stage at Web Summit.
  • One wall featuring the partner’s logo in a step and repeat style.
  • One wall featuring the partner’s logo in the 8 x dual-branded poster boards.
• Partner logo will feature on 4 x dual-branded 86″ screens above the PITCH stage.
• Partner logo will feature on the 2 x dual-branded hanging banners above the PITCH stage.
• Partner logo will feature on the partner registration board and on all satellite stages.

Online branding including:

• • Partner logo will appear on the PITCH landing page.
  • Partner logo on the PITCH collateral sent to startups and judges.
  • Partner logo on event website, mobile app, and newsletter.

Please submit your logo and company details via the partner comms form provided. Also, please send your partner success manager your logo in .svg format via email. 

Group rounds (Tuesday, November 5)

Sixty  startups will compete in the group rounds. Each startup will have three minutes to pitch their company onstage, followed by a three-minute Q&A with our judging panel.

Startups are divided into groups of eight, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-final which takes place on Centre Stage. Each group is overseen by a panel of four judges.

Semi-final (Wednesday, November 6)

Our group stage winners will be joined by seven fast-tracked startups on Centre Stage. Semi-finalists will have three minutes to pitch their businesses to the Centre Stage audience and a panel of 20 esteemed judges. Our judges will then deliberate and choose three finalists to battle it out in the PITCH final.

Final (Thursday, November 7)

The PITCH final will take place on Centre Stage. Our three finalists will deliver another three-minute pitch followed by a three-minute Q&A with our three judges.

In the PITCH final, the audience becomes the fourth judge. Following the finalists’ presentations, the audience will have the chance to vote for their favourite startup through the Web Summit app. The audience vote makes up 25 percent of the total score, giving them as much influence as any of our judges.

The finalist with the highest combined score will be crowned the winner of PITCH at Web Summit 2019.

PITCH judge slots

As the exclusive PITCH partner for Web Summit, you will play an active part in choosing who moves forward in the competition. You will have the following PITCH judging slots:

• • 1 x  PITCH judge final position
  • 2 x PITCH judge semi-final positions
  • 3 x PITCH judge group stage positions

Your partner success manager will send you unique links to book these PITCH judge slots.

PITCH prize

You also have the opportunity to provide a prize to the PITCH winner. Previous prizes include: prize money; and access to an exclusive startup incubator. If you have something in mind, please speak with your partner success manager.

You will have access to the PITCH stage for one hour. The hour can be used for your very own pitch competition, award announcement or as a platform for a product demo. Please speak with your partner success manager about your ideas in advance – all content must be approved by Web Summit by Wednesday, September 25. 

Please find a full overview here.