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Pitch competition · United States

Microsoft Imagine Cup

Microsoft's global startup competition for student founders building with its AI tools. Early teams compete in the Launch path for US$50,000; startups with traction compete in Scale for a US$100,000 world championship prize.

Status unknown Run by Microsoft

Visit the programme's site

Verified 19 October 2026 · From the programme's own pages

Terms

Funding
US$100,000 Scale path world champion US$100,000, plus a mentoring session with Microsoft's chairman and CEO; Launch path winner US$50,000. Prize money is split equally among registered team members.
Instrument
Prize
Equity taken
not published
Programme fee
not published
Duration
not published
Cohort size
not published
Cohorts
not published
Delivery
not published
Stages
Idea, pre-seed, seed
Sectors
AI
Open to founders from
Anywhere
Perks
  • Azure credits and access to Microsoft AI services
  • Mentorship on business and technical challenges
  • Builder Series training for semifinalists

Entries are a pitch deck, recorded pitch and demo video. The top three Scale teams pitch at the World Championship. Entrants keep their intellectual property.

Application dates

Status unknown

Dates not published. The site says Imagine Cup 2027 is coming soon; dates are not yet published. For the 2026 competition, entrants had to be enrolled students between 30 September 2025 and 31 May 2026.

Usual timing: The site says Imagine Cup 2027 is coming soon; dates are not yet published. For the 2026 competition, entrants had to be enrolled students between 30 September 2025 and 31 May 2026.

Who can apply

  • Every team member is an enrolled high-school or college/university student aged 18 or over
  • Entrants must be from a country not prohibited by US export regulations
  • Launch path: no dilutive funding and no more than US$100,000 in non-dilutive funding
  • Scale path: users, revenue or capital, with no more than US$5M in combined dilutive and non-dilutive funding
  • Stage: idea, pre-seed, seed

What founders should check

  1. The programme does not publish how much equity it takes. Ask before you accept a place.
  2. It does not publish a fee. Ask whether you pay for desks, services or the programme itself.
  3. It does not say whether it runs in person or remotely. Ask before you plan a move.
  4. Dates for the next cohort are not published. The site says Imagine Cup 2027 is coming soon; dates are not yet published. For the 2026 competition, entrants had to be enrolled students between 30 September 2025 and 31 May 2026.

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