One platform for all the Universities in Denmark.Venture Cup is a nationwide non-profit organization founded in 2000 to challenge the entrepreneurial mindset of Danish University students by holding various competitions and events. Thereafter Venture Cup has evolved beyond just a competition. Today, Venture Cup programs provide innovative university students and researchers across Denmark with the opportunity to develop their ideas into concepts. Furthermore, we connect startups with the business world—tapping into the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem on both the national and international level.

Our mission is two-fold; to inspire and motivate entrepreneurship among students, and to turn academic knowledge into viable high-growth businesses.

Venture Cup competitions now serve as a platform to inspire and facilitate the development of our participants–enabling their ideas to reach their full commercial potential and to help them on their path towards answering the global challenges of the future.

We also focus on entrepreneurship as a practical discipline and we expose our participants to a great network of famous companies, experienced entrepreneurs and business people through Mentor & Booster Pack programs. This network provides valuable advice & consultancy, services and products to the Danish student startups on a volunteer basis because they share our interest in finding and supporting Denmark’s leading start-ups.

Through working together with our associates in Norway and Sweden, Venture Cup has

established itself as one of the major startup organizations in Scandinavia. We have a large number of partners across the world and collaborate with other international players to create value for all of our stakeholders.

This brochure provides you with the opportunity to view some of the brightest and most dedicated teams from the past years as well as the startup stars of tomorrow. Through these pages, we invite you to learn more about Venture Cup and ultimately how you can tap into our network.

Lastly, we want to thank each one of the brilliant people we are so fortunate to help, collaborate and connect with every day of the year.

Human ShojaeeCEO

Venture Cup

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Bringing together academia & businessWe are proud to be part of a large family consisting of public universities, funds, organizations, and private companies. Our mission is to inspire young entrepreneurs and thus bring together academia and business. The member universities support us both in our mission and financially. We also partner with organizations and companies that share this vision to make sure young entrepreneurs get the best help early on. We are thankful to have them as part of our family.

We make a great effort to help and support all students attending our member universities:

• Aalborg University (AAU)• Copenhagen Business School (CBS)• Roskilde University (RUC)• Technical University of Denmark (DTU)• University of Aarhus (AU)• University of Copenhagen (KU)• University of Southern Denmark (SDU)• IT University of Copenhagen (ITU)

Universities

• Venture Cup was founded in 2000 by McKinsey.• 14 years of experience with National entrepreneurship competitions.• Non-profit.• We face more than 22.000 university students each year.• We encourage entrepreneurship and help the students with their startup dreams.• Working together with other organizations/incubators, facilitating projects for the Danish

business community and cooperate with the public sector.• Close to 2000 current participants, 7000 alumni.• Annual growth rates in participation: 20-30%• Deep integration with ”eco-system”; Teachers, Student incubators (CSE etc.), Startup

accellerator programs etc.• Utilization of 250 Professional Jury members and Mentors.

Venture Cup highlights

Information aboutthe competitionsFor the past 14 years, we have worked to help and inspire young entrepreneurs. With more than 3 international offices under our belt, Venture Cup is one of Europe’s largest and most trusted non-profits that helps make startups grow. Supported by the Danish universities and some of Denmark’s most innovative companies, we provide support and the right mindset to help you succeed.

The 6 CategoriesCleanTech & Environment: energy efficiency, waste management, pollution reduction etc.Life Science & MedTech: biotech, pharma, medical devices, health care, biomaterials etc.Mobile & Web: apps, web services, search engines, augmented reality, near field communication etc.Services: education, consultancy, marketing, tourism etc.Product & Technology: industrial design, devices, robotics, hardware, nanotech etc.Social Entrepreneurship: welfare innovation, social & societal solutions, non-profit organizations, 3rd world development etc.

Competitions

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Startup CompetitionCash Prizes: 25,000 DKK to the best idea in each category and an additional prize of 200,000 DKK to the overall winner, no strings attached.

Network: Meet serial entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, industry experts, and be part of our alumni club.

Venture Cup Booster Pack: – A package including all the help you need as a startup is awarded to each of the 25 most promising, high growth potential teams. Each package has a product value of 400,000 DKK

Feedback: Get early and vital feedback from our jury or apply for an advisor.

Training: Learn to pitch, network, and write a business plan.

Experts: We facilitate contact to advisors and mentors to help you reach the next level.

Idea CompetitionFunding: 25,000 DKK cash prize to the best idea in each category, with no strings attached. An Additional People’s Choice Award of another 25,000 DKK will be awarded one of the teams.

Network: Meet serial entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, industry experts, and be part of our alumni club.

Feedback: Get early and vital feedback from our jury members and apply for an mentor.

Training: Learn to pitch, network, and write a business plan.

Experts: We facilitate contact to advisors and mentors to help make your idea a reality.

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Competitons facts• 100% (~154.000) university students• 15% (~22.000) most entrepreneurial faced• 1,3% (~2000) active participants• Annual growth rates in participation: 20-30%

• 2 annual competitions• 43 finalist teams in total• 6 category winners in each competitions• 2 yearly overall winners• 600.000 DKR cash prizes• 10 mill. DKR in services

• Intel Business Challange: 2012, 3 of top 4 places Including winner - Biosyntia, IrSee, Black Silicon Solar. 2011, Winner & 2’nd place - Bucky ‘o’ zun, WeDecide.

• Global Cleantech Open: 2012, Winner - Biosynia. 2011, 2’nd place - BCS. 2010, Winner - Abeo.

The Booster Pack is a sponsor package that is awarded annually to the 18 finalist teams from the Startup Competition (+ 7 additional handpicked teams). The sponsor package contains services and products from 20+ different sponsors, ranging from IT to accounting, marketing to legal services, human resource tools to patent protection and much more.

Each package has an estimated value of DKK 400.000; if the teams choose to claim all the products and services. However, the Booster Pack is much more than a sponsor package, as it gives the teams a great opportunity to network with other startups and sponsors through seminars and workshops.

All the teams are selected by firstly looking at criteria such as Innovation, Market Potential, Scalability, Realizability, Team structure and Time to Market.

The first Booster Packs were awarded in 2013 and the companies have accomplished impressive feats such as:

• Raised 500,000 € in venture capital. • Being accepted into Accelerace and

presented at Makerfest New York as well as at events by Kairos Society.

• Pitched to nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

• Participated in the Global Cleantech Open.

• 85% satisfaction level from teams• Finding new opportunities to expand

the program in the Scandinavian countries and make strategic collaborations with international cooperative partners in Brazil and the global student network Kairos Society.

Venture CupBooster Pack

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Mentor programs are Venture Cup joint

initiatives with Danish entrepreneurship

society aiming for supporting Startup

teams to foster their abilities and

skills to gain a competitive advantage

in international marketplace

We believe each Danish student startup should have at least one mentorEvery year, Venture Cup Denmark helps create more than 500 startups and new business ideas. In order to support this effort and build a bridge between the most innovative and brightest students from Danish universities and the expertise of professionals and experienced entrepreneurs, Venture Cup launched the National Startup Mentor Program in January 2014. Our mission is to create the best mentor program for startups in Denmark to bring great ideas and valuable experience together.

Venture Cup actively accompanies the process with networking and kick-off events, follow-up meetings and guidance material to ensure a fruitful and beneficial experience for both our mentors and mentees and help creating even more high-profile startups in Denmark.

The program is mainly managed by two communication and control processes to maintain and improve the quality and quantity aspects of the relevant outcomes.

Venture CupNational Startup Mentor Program

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LaunchPad Denmark is an initiative created by the Danish Government - the Ministry of Business and Growth - to attract talented entrepreneurs with world class business ideas to Denmark. The goal is to attract high-growth startups from all over the world and accelerate their businesses in Denmark using it as a platform to go global.

For LaunchPad Denmark we are looking for 30 entrepreneurs to come to Denmark and join our two accelerator programs that are targeted different types of entrepreneurs.

Venture Cup’s role in Launchpad has been to facilitate the back-office system and make sure that all the applicants are registered correctly and that all the jury members are qualified and well informed. Drawing on experiences from our own competitions, Venture Cup plays a vital role in the screening of, and communication with, applicants. By contributing to the Launchpad Program, we hope to create more opportunities for international entrepreneurs in Denmark and secure Denmark’s place as a growing hub for entrepreneurs.

Venture Cup BootCamp Brazil aims to unite people from diverse educational backgrounds across the disciplines, making it the ideal place to get inspired, build relationships, network and get in touch with top national and international professionals and companies in Brazil. There has been recently a special focus on female entrepreneurship and the number of participants has been increased in this sector.

This program runs in 3 rounds and 4 categories (People & Society; female entrepreneurship, financial services and healthcare):

1. Choose a business idea, mentoring: The objective is to help the students create ideas and to form teams developing the ideas through the program. During the process of idea creation camp, we will include partners as industry leaders and specialist in specific fields as mentors of those students.

2. Idea development: pitch your idea, feedback, selecting the finalists. The main focus is help shape and development ideas.

3. Final Day: Matchmaking and speed dating with managers and business leaders; finalists pitch; Announcing category winners and selecting the winner.

Three pillars run throughout: globalization, breakthrough ideas and entrepreneurial behavior.

LaunchPad

BootcampBrazil

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Venture Cup has a great access to the network of Danish university incubators and could facilitate the linkage between Danish and international incubators to exchange the most talented student Start-ups in order to provide the teams with an international business and culture mindset and professional experience.

You could find the most famous Danish university incubators as listed below:

• CSE (CBS)• T57 (KU)• Iværksætterhuset (KU)• RUC Innovation (RUC)• Scion (DTU)• Skylab (DTU)• Danish Tech, Challenge (DTU)• CEI (AU)• SEA (AAU)• Pro-Programmet (SDU)

IncubatorExchange

What does it mean to be a Jury Member?Jury members are an essential part of the Venture Cup process. For more than 14 years, our jury members have acted as a vital link between established business professionals and young innovative entrepreneurs.

Comprised of more than 500 highly skilled professionals, jury members’ backgrounds range from executives of leading international companies to top level directors and specialists. Jury members are able to provide crucial entrepreneurial insight due to their diverse experiences working within the public and private sectors.

These jury members volunteer their time to ensure that the highest quality of teams advance. Handpicked by our jury members, winners of Venture Cup competitions have gone on to succeed at the international level both in global competitions and business endeavours.

Through our jury members, Venture Cup builds bridge between important innovation and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Anette Nørgaard, Microsoft“Being a jury is a challenging and inspiring job and personally I get a lot of energy in helping startups. Microsoft wants to help startups getting successful and at Venture Cup I see a very high level of very potential startups which makes it even more inspiring, fun and valuable.”

Venture CupJury Members

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Previous Winners

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National OfficeVenture Cup

Porcelænshaven 26, 1st floor.2000 Frederiksberg

+45 3815 3377info@venturecup.dk

Human ShojaeeCEO

+45 2929 0767hus@venturecup.dk

Contact

What differentiates Venture Cup from other startup competitions is our acceleration role through various supportive programs in the Danish

entrepreneurial eco-system and exploitation of synergies between them.