Pitch competitions
5 programmes. Of these, 2 say they take no equity, and 2 have applications open.
A free business plan competition for founders in Berlin and Brandenburg. Plans go in over three phases with written jury feedback, and the best concept in each phase wins EUR 10,000 to EUR 20,000.
€20k prize · equity-free
A competition and training programme for European life sciences and health tech start-ups. Finalists pitch to investors at the EIT Health flagship event for EUR 30,000 per category.
€30k prize · equity not published
A global network of three-minute pitch competitions for students, researchers and early-career innovators. About 100 Lab winners a year go on to the Global Finale in Berlin each November.
Funding not published · equity not published
A three-phase business plan competition for founders in southern Bavaria, run by BayStartUP. Every entry gets written jury feedback, and winners of each phase share prize money from the Bavarian competitions' EUR 85,000 pool.
Funding not published · equity not published
A nationwide German business plan competition for digital and technology B2B startups, run from Dortmund. The ten best plans share EUR 94,000, with EUR 40,000 for first place, and coaching is free throughout.
€40k prize · equity-free
We list 5 programmes: Businessplan-Wettbewerb Berlin-Brandenburg (BPW), EIT Health Catapult, Falling Walls Lab, Münchener Businessplan Wettbewerb and start2grow. Each listing links to the programme's own pages and shows the day we last verified it.
2 of the 5 say they take no equity: Businessplan-Wettbewerb Berlin-Brandenburg (BPW) and start2grow. 3 do not publish their equity terms.
Applications are open for Businessplan-Wettbewerb Berlin-Brandenburg (BPW) (closes 10 November 2026) and start2grow (closes 11 January 2027). The deadlines page lists every date we track.
Berlin (2), Munich (2) and Dortmund (1). Delivery varies: each listing says whether the programme runs in person, remotely or both.
Send us your dates and terms and we will publish them with a link to your own pages.