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Tuesday, 29 August 2017 00:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
PwC Sri Lanka and SLASSCOM have once again teamed up to bring back the local pitching event for Europe’s leading and largest annual startup and technology event, SLUSH, with an opportunity that will allow the winner at the local competition to take part at the global event to be held in Finland later this year.
The Sri Lankan leg of the competition will be held on 8 September and will bring together local startups who will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges representing the industry. The judges will shortlist three of the best startups based on the SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator selection criteria, and subsequently the SLUSH Final Selection Committee will select the winner from Sri Lanka after conducting live interviews with the three shortlisted startups.
The Sri Lankan winner will fly to Helsinki, Finland to take part at the global event which will take place from 30 November to 1 December. SLUSH will cover the transportation, accommodation and other program-related costs of the 2017 Sri Lankan winner.
This is the second consecutive year that the SLUSHlocal pitching event is held in Sri Lanka. Both PwC and SLASSCOM introduced the global event for local startups for the first time in 2016. PwC Sri Lanka is the exclusive hub manager in Sri Lanka for SLUSH 2017.
The SLUSH Global Impact Accelerator (GIA) is a programcreated in collaboration with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and other global multiple partners. The objective of the annual event is to support impact-driven startups and showcase exciting business opportunities in emerging markets, and the event in Sri Lanka is seen as an important initiative to empower local startups.
This year the organisers at the global event are looking for startups that have the vision to solve pressing challenges globally, and also find solutions to support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Startups that will take part in the global event must also have a business idea that has gained some traction but is still at an early phase, along with the potential to scale, and the skills and drive to succeed.
During last year’s event in Helsinki, over 2300 startups took part from over 120 countries, and the event also brought together at least 1,100 venture capitalists and 600 journalists. SLUSH has also gained recognition as an important event that connects startups to top tier international investors from around the world.
In 2016, NicNac was adjudged Sri Lanka’s best impact oriented startup at the SLUSH pitching event held in Colombo, and the company’s representative flew to Helsinki to take part in the global event.
Similar to last year this year also the winning startup founder will fly to Helsinki in Finland to take part at Slush Global Accelerator programwhich consists of a two-week long extensive boot camp with some of the leading global startup trainers and startups, also winner will get the rare opportunity of pitching to the investors from leading investors/investment firms through match making during Slush main event.
Startups who are interested in applying for local pitching can contact Chrismali through 0776149538, [email protected] or NuwanDishan through 0770552524 or [email protected].
