Thanks to generous sponsorship from the Levy Institute and Lanny and Sharon Martin, we award $328,000 in non-dilutive prize money each competition cycle. In addition to prize money, semifinalist teams receive professional graphic design support valued at more than $50,000 in total.
Every team selected as a semifinalist from the applicant pool receives a $1,000 cash prize. After semifinalists are announced, teams participate in the Pitch Prep Program to prepare for competition day.
VentureCat competition day begins with the semifinal round, which is organized into five separate industry tracks. First and second place teams receive prize money, $9,000 to first place teams and $6,000 to second place teams. The first place teams from each of the five industry tracks move onto finals along with one wildcard team chosen from the second place teams.
Final round prizes are awarded to the top three teams out of the six teams that compete in finals.
All finalist teams also compete for the $2,000 audience favorite vote award during the Public Showcase.
In total we won more than $20,000. We invested that money in growth and in converting our clients so that we could actually reach breakeven, which happened just six months after we received the cash from VentureCat.”
Brunna Beccaro Seabra
DinDin
Finals, Second Place Winner, 2019
DinDin has been acquired by one of the largest banks in Brazil