Pitch competitions
5 programmes. Of these, none says it takes no equity, and 2 have applications open.
UC Berkeley's year-long contest for student-led social impact projects. Teams send a short pre-proposal in the fall and a full proposal in the spring; winners receive US$2,000 to US$20,000.
Funding not published · equity not published
A French national competition for young startups working on plants, crops and landscaping, run by the VEGEPOLYS VALLEY innovation cluster. Winners get EUR 10,000 towards studies plus a year of free cluster membership.
€10k prize · equity not published
A training and pitch competition for early-stage innovators in parts of Europe, run by the EIT Community. Teams get training and mentoring, then finalists pitch to investors for up to EUR 10,000.
€10k prize · equity not published
A food and agtech startup competition funded by New York State. Up to 20 finalists get mentoring and a paid trip to Upstate New York, and seven winners share US$3M, with a US$1M top prize, if they commit to the region.
US$1m prize · equity not published
A global prize for small and medium enterprises and non-profits with sustainability solutions in health, food, energy, water and climate action. Each category winner receives US$1,000,000.
US$1m prize · equity not published
We list 5 programmes: Big Ideas Contest, Concours VEGEPOLYS VALLEY, EIT Jumpstarter, Grow-NY and Zayed Sustainability Prize. Each listing links to the programme's own pages and shows the day we last verified it.
None of the 5 says it takes no equity. 5 do not publish their equity terms, so ask before you apply.
Applications are open for Concours VEGEPOLYS VALLEY (closes 8 November 2026) and Big Ideas Contest (closes 2 December 2026). The deadlines page lists every date we track.
Angers (1), Berkeley (1) and New York (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.