If you’re working on your startup pitch and thinking “Okay, but where do I actually try this in front of real humans?”, this is for you.
Below are 10 active places to pitch your startup – mostly competitions, all aimed at early‑stage founders across the UK, Europe and the US. As of late 2025, every single one of these is still running applications or hosting events.
1. The Pitch (UK & Ireland)
If you’re in the UK or Ireland, The Pitch is a very easy yes.
It’s a free competition for early‑stage founders with regional heats and a big final in London. Applications for The Pitch 2026 are already open, and they bill themselves as the UK and Ireland’s largest pitching competition.
You apply online, get shortlisted, then work with mentors to sharpen your startup pitch before taking the stage. There’s a prize package, but the real value is the practice, feedback and investor eyeballs.
2. TechCrunch Startup Battlefield (San Francisco, USA)
If you want a “swing for the fences” moment, this is it.
Startup Battlefield runs at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. A curated group of 200 early‑stage startups (Startup Battlefield 200) are picked from thousands of applicants and invited to pitch live at the conference.
From that group, a smaller set makes it to the main Battlefield stage to compete for a big cash prize and serious investor attention. Disrupt 2025 just wrapped and they’re already teasing the next cohort.
👉 https://techcrunch.com/startup-battlefield/
3. SXSW Pitch (Austin, USA)
SXSW Pitch is the big startup pitch competition at South by Southwest in Austin. It’s been running for 17+ years and still going strong – the 2025 edition featured 45 startups across nine categories and handed out awards like Best in Show and Best Bootstrapped.
You apply in advance, get shortlisted, and if you’re lucky you’ll be pitching your startup on stage to investors, media and a very tech‑savvy crowd.
4. Startup World Cup (Global, finals in Silicon Valley)
Startup World Cup is exactly what it sounds like: regional pitch competitions all over the world, leading up to a huge final in Silicon Valley with a $1m investment prize.
They’re actively running 2025–26 regional events in places like the Philippines, Bulgaria, the US and Slovenia right now. Winners from those events go on to compete at the global finals.
👉 https://www.startupworldcup.io
5. Web Summit – PITCH (Lisbon, Portugal)
If you’re already eyeing Web Summit, make sure you also apply for PITCH, their on‑stage startup competition.
PITCH brings together early‑stage startups from Web Summit’s startup programme to battle it out live, with finalists crowned on the main stage in Lisbon – the 2024 winner was announced at the November 2025 event.
There’s no huge cheque at the end, but you get a tonne of exposure, media coverage and meetings with investors.
👉 https://websummit.com/startups/pitch
6. Slush 100 (Helsinki, Finland)
Slush is already wild as a conference; Slush 100 is their flagship startup pitch competition.
Every year, early‑stage startups apply to Slush 100 for a chance to pitch on the Founder Stage, with the winner taking home a €1,000,000 equity investment from General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures.
In 2025, three finalists fought it out on stage for that prize – so yes, it’s very much active and very competitive.
👉 https://slush.org/audience/startups/slush100
7. Get in the Ring (Global)
If you’re bored of standard pitch decks, Get in the Ring might be your thing.
It’s a global startup competition where founders literally step into a boxing‑style ring and pitch “head‑to‑head” in front of an audience. The organisation runs events in 200+ cities and a Global Startup Competition that brings winners together to compete and connect with investors and corporate partners.
It’s especially good if you’re building something impact‑driven and want a memorable way to tell your story.
8. Founders Live (Global city events)
Founders Live is less conference, more community.
In cities around the world, they host regular evening events where five founders each get 99 seconds to pitch. The crowd votes, there’s a winner, and then everyone hangs out over drinks. Their events calendar for late 2025 is packed – from San Diego to Stockholm, Nairobi to Cambridge.
If you’re early and just want to test your startup pitch in front of real people without a three‑month application process, this is perfect.
👉 https://www.founderslive.com
9. 1 Million Cups (USA – weekly)
Not exactly a “competition”, but too useful to leave out.
1 Million Cups is a free, weekly program backed by the Kauffman Foundation where founders present their startup to a local community, then get 20 minutes of questions and feedback. It runs every Wednesday morning in cities across the US, and multiple chapters list events through the end of 2025.
Think of it as a low‑stakes place to practice your startup pitch before you throw yourself at SXSW or Battlefield.
👉 https://www.1millioncups.com
10. Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge (Paris / Global)
If you’re building deep tech, this is your playground.
The Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge is a long‑running competition for early‑stage deep‑tech startups. Applications for the 2025/26 edition opened in September 2025, with a deadline at the end of November and finals at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in June 2026.
Winners get up to €100k in equity‑free funding, and everyone selected as a “Deep Tech Pioneer” gets access to investors and corporates who actually understand science‑heavy businesses.
👉 https://hello-tomorrow.org/global-challenge
How to use this list
If you’re just getting your startup pitch into shape, you don’t need to go straight to Slush or Startup Battlefield. A simple ladder could look like:
Start with 1 Million Cups or a local Founders Live to practice your story.
Apply to The Pitch or Get in the Ring to get proper stage time and mentoring.
Once things are working, aim for the big beasts: SXSW Pitch, Web Summit PITCH, Slush 100, Startup World Cup, or Startup Battlefield.
Pick one, put a date in the diary, and work backwards. Nothing sharpens a startup pitch like knowing you’re going to be on stage with a microphone and a countdown timer.
