European Venture Contest - NRW

Quick Facts
  • top20 North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) companies selected to present at European Venture Summit
  • exposure for entrepreneurs to potential strategic partners and investors through event participation
  • networking opportunites with corporate investors, venture capitalists & fast-growing companies 
"The European Venture Contest - NRW is a great event, well-organized, a platform for numerous outstanding entrepreneurs. It is a great opportunity to pitch your idea in front of industry experts and investors and - meanwhile - build-up strategic relationships, and start the hunt for funding hahahahahah . We were delighted to be part of it, and present Innsystec!"
Ralf  Schmelter  -  Managing Director of  Innsystec
Winner of EVC - NRW 2015 and EVS 2015

"As co-founder of VAT4U I’ve participated to both EVC NRW and EVS 2015. Both events are well organized, and provide a great opportunity to meet investors, and other successful entrepreneurs in an exclusive setting! Networking has been very easy and we got interesting contacts out of this event. Time well spent, we really recommend it!"
Fabian  Völkel  - CEO and Founder of VAT4U
Winner of EVC - NRW 2015 and EVS 2015

About
 
The outstanding entrepreneurship scene in NRW, one of the hottest startup spots in Germany, makes it the natural place to organize the 4th edition of the European Venture Contest - North Rhine-Westphalia (EVC-NRW).
 
Building on a strong history of successful European Venture Contest - North Rhine-Westphalia, the 2016 edition will take place on 2 2 November 2016 in Cologne. 

The one-day event will unify 30 North Rhine-Westphalia innovative companies active in ICT, Life sciences and Clean and Energy technologies, with the ultimiate goal to help them raise awareness and detect funding opportunities.  This year's edition draws a special attention on the digital industry, with presenters  in digital health, digital energy & resource efficiency.

EVC - NRW is one of the 10 Semi-Finals of the European Venture Contest (EVC) 2016,  blossoming with a  plethora  of startups, and  attracting over 1,000 innovative companies every year!  The NRW Semi-Final will select 20 innovative companies to present at European Venture Summit (EVS) ,   the flagship investment forum and the final of the European Venture Contest. 

The past three editions of EVS attracted over  350 companies, with 60 presenters from NRW and 13  award winners from the region.  5 North Rhine-Westphalian start-ups were among the 25 winners at EVS 2015. The companies  Innsystec, VAT4U, Piur Imaging, Mapudo and DITG prevailed among more than 800 applicants and got to the final!

 
"Both EVC NRW and EVS provided great networking opportunities for all entrepreneurs, and created awareness for significant investment and partnership opportunities. I strongly recommend other CEOs and founders to take part in EVC NRW and secure their place at EVS!"
Martin Ballweg -  Managing Director of  Mapudo
Winner of EVC - NRW 2015 and EVS 2015
 

 

Figures

  • 30 selected innovative  companies from the NRW region 
  • 20+ local and foreign expert investors, recruited to rate the companies’ potential and select the 20 best NRW presenting
  • 60 + participants including representatives of the host organization, guests, media and organizers    

 

   
The European Venture Contest NRW 2016 is an initiative of Europe Unlimited co-hosted by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and research of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Economy of the German State of North -Rhine Westphalia,Biocampus Cologne and the IHK Cologne. EVC - NRW  is proudly supported by the City of Düsseldorf, and NRW Bank.