Founders Games

The World's Biggest Ever
award Pool of $6 000 000

RAISING $5M - $100M CURRENT / NEXT ROUND?
The Global Program is Open for Applications!

Apply now

The sooner you apply the more VCs will see you.

  • Are you in (or planning) an investment round?
  • Do you already have al least 2 successful investment rounds?
  • Is your company in post revenue stage?
  • Are you generating social and environmental change alongside business success?
  • Are you looking for international investors?
  • Would a global endorsement and exposure at Webit, COP and Davos (among the rest) add value to you?
  • Do you want Webit to help you with exposure to hundreds of international VCs and introductions to potential funders?
  • Do. you want Webit to support you by:
    • endorsing you at some of the world's most prestigious events and help you with media publicity?
    • introducing you to select number of our 1.5M global community including 1000s of global corporates, policy makers, media, investors, influencers?

IF the answer to these Qs is "YES" - Apply now!

Webit Investment Network (BSE: WIN) Signs SAFE for $500,000 Investment in World Leader in Precision Pollination - BeeHero

May 23, 2024

Webit Investment Network (BSE: WIN) Signs SAFE for $500,000 Investment in World Leader in Precision Pollination - BeeHero

Mercer's Executive Director, Investments and Global Chief Investment Strategist, Rich Nuzum (Jury Member), shares his experience with Webit's Founders Games in Davos. View all »

Mission statement

We identify, endorse and award globally the high growth companies and their founders who lead the way to achieving the SDGs by creating scalable, sustainable and resilient businesses.

Collective Intelligence

Founders Games is the only global platform powered by the collective intelligence of 400+ late stage VC investors who commit their time to score 4500+ applications from 150+ countries each year. The finalists are selected among the highest ranked companies (scaleups) after 5 rounds in the competition.

Global Outreach and Impact

Since 2009 Founders Games has been established as the premier scaleup innovation competition with the world’s biggest funding award of $6.000.000 provided by 750+ investors in the publicly listed company - Webit Investment Network - WIN.

Each year of the competition 4500+ companies from 150+ countries apply.

The best companies of Founders Games 2024 are pitching at the Grand Finals award ceremony on January 2025 in Davos.

On March 17, 2024 NASDAQ from the world's most iconic facade of the capital markets, congratulated Webit for our role in the development of innovation and entrepreneurship on a global scale.

Grand Finals

& ESG Networking Cocktail

by Webit

The Grand Finals award ceremony of the world's premier growth stage competition.

23th Jan 2025

Davos, Switzerland

Join The Jury

Join the collective intelligence scoring the most impactful innovations for the better, sustainable and resilient future. View all jury members.

Philipp Spenger
Virtually
Philipp Spenger

EIB

Altan Küçükçinar
Altan Küçükçinar

DCP

Marc Elias
Virtually
Marc Elias

ARM Capital

Karel Obluk
Virtually
Karel Obluk

Evolution Equity Partners

Cem Baytok
Cem Baytok

Idacapital

Dr. Alexander Domin
Dr. Alexander Domin

Trill Impact

Patrick Lord
Virtually
Patrick Lord

Truffle Capital

Dr. Andreas Nemeth
Dr. Andreas Nemeth

UNIQA Ventures

Dawid Sukacz
Dawid Sukacz

21 Invest

Tim Draper
Tim Draper

Draper Network

Hendrik Brandis
Hendrik Brandis

Earlybird

Steve Schlenker
Steve Schlenker

DN Capital

Bogomil Balkansky
Bogomil Balkansky

Sequoia Capital

Rinat Yogev
Rinat Yogev

GM Ventures

Christoph Schuh
Christoph Schuh

Lakestar

Marie-Helene Ametsreiter
Marie-Helene Ametsreiter

Speedinvest

Bakhrom Ibragimov
Bakhrom Ibragimov

Molten Ventures

Alexander Galitsky
Alexander Galitsky

Almaz Capital

Cem Sertoğlu
Cem Sertoğlu

Earlybird Digital East Fund

Ali Karabey
Ali Karabey

212 VC

Kurt Kaltenegger
Kurt Kaltenegger

ABB Technology Ventures

Ajay Ramaachandran
Ajay Ramaachandran

Webit Capital Partners

Arne Morteani
Arne Morteani

Kiko VC

Alessandro Luciano
Alessandro Luciano

Insight Partners

Compare & compete with the best

in front of leading global & regional investors

The 2024 annual Founders Games competition will bring together the best founders, the world's top investors,
corporate leaders and media to identify and endorse the cutting edge innovations and impact entrepreneurs globally.

With the support of

We partner

with responsible and ESG impact corporate & VC partners supporting their leadership
and helping them innovate through collaboration with the startup/scaleup worlds.

Become a partner

Finalists of Founders Games 2023

WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER
WINNER

Founders Games Verticals

Future of
Impact

  • Energy
  • Planet & Climate Tech
  • Smart Cities
  • Mobility
  • New Materials
  • Food & AgTech

Future of
business

  • Web3
  • Marketing
  • SaaS
  • FinTech, Defi
  • Big/Small Data
  • Defence
  • Space
  • Logistics
  • Ecommerce

Future of
Health

  • Synthetic Biology
  • BioTech
  • LifeScience
  • Therapeutics
  • Digital Health
  • Wellness
  • Longevity

Future of
Entertainment

  • Digital Media
  • Neo Content
  • AI Companions
  • MarTech / AdTech
  • Fashion

Future of
Work

  • Robotics
  • AI, ML
  • EdTech
  • Metaverse
  • Collaboration
  • Brain Machine Interfaces
  • Enterprise
  • Voice, Haptics
  • Ambient AI Computing

Founders Games Journey Timeline

Startup journey timeline

A. Application
on our website

Fill in your company details
in the application form.

B. Round 1 & 2 - online

The criteria against which companies are evaluated in 5 rounds include:

C. Invitation
to pitch & present

In Sofia, Bulgaria on 23rd of October

D. Round 4
Semifinals

E. Round 5
Davos Finals

Prepare your perfect pitch and get ready to roll

* Subject to change by the organizers

Webit.Festival 2024

Founders Games’ Round 3 will be part of Webit.Festival on Oct 23rd & 24th. Our top selected startups will receive a free exhibition booth at the Startup / Scaleup Village and will be able to present their activity to a targeted audience of thousands of attendees.

Read more about Webit.Festival.

The Award Investment

The award investment is provided by Dr. Plamen Russev (chairman of Webit.Foundation, investor and serial entrepreneur) and prominent business angels.

Тhe form in which the investment will be paid is negotiable. It could be a convertible loan, which will convert into shares of preferred stock upon the closing of a next equity financing (Series A/B round of financing) at market terms for such an instrument. It could be in a bridge round or other solution in favour of the founders. The award may also also fund a pre-IPO investment round.

Participating in Founders Games grants the organizers the right to invest up to $5M in a single one or more startup finalists.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The criteria against which companies are evaluated in 5 rounds include:

1. IMPACT FACTOR
(SDG Compliance)

What impact the success of the company would have on achieving one or more of the 17 SDGs

2. UNIQUENESS
OF THE IDEA

To what extent the idea is unique and constitutes intellectual property (IP)

3. TEAM
CAPACITY

Team experience, successful previous projects, ability to complete the project, human capital.

4. BUSINESS MODEL, SCALABILITY
AND MARKET ADOPTION

Market adoption, growth potential, how long does it take for the market to understand and adopt the product/service (timing), marketing approach and success stories, business model and business development, revenue growth.

5. FUNDING
& FINANCES

Availability of financing and capacity to achieve the development of the product/service roadmap, team, marketing, growth and adaptation

6. LEADERSHIP AND PERSONAL
QUALITIES OF THE TEAM

Leading by example and potential for being a role model for other founder to work for achieving the SDGs.

The winter grand finale award ceremony (with up to $6M equity award) of the world's premier growth stage competition Founders Games and the official cocktail reception by Webit took place in January 2023 in Davos.

The opportunity to access capital & global corporations



Opportunity to get a major share of the $6'000'000 award pool


Global exposure to investors - VCs, family offices, business angels


Media exposure


Connections with potential corporate partners and clients (Webit dedicated team shall guide you and help you with the networking and 1:1 meetings)


Free festival Webit tickets and opportunity to exhibit


Help and guidance with your presentation and pitch deck


Virtual + in-person pitches in front of top investors' jury

Based on historical data, when a company becomes Founders Games finalist:

In the next 4 months will
Close $5M - $50M
Round
In the next 4-6 years will
increase its attracted
VC Capital by 6.9 times
In the next 12 months will
Be invited to MANY OF THE
major global events

SUCCESS STORIES - GROW EXPONENTIALLY & WIN A GLOBAL EXPOSURE

The startup finalists and semi-finalists have had stellar success after their participation at Webit when being in the beginning of their exponential growth continuing to today. Many have oversubscribed their investment round almost immediately after they participated in the Founders Games.

CH4Global

CH4Global

CH4 Global has patented a food supplement which not only reduces the Methane from cows by up to 90% but also increases meat and milk production by 10-15%. CH4 Global's funding round in 2023 will help the company to scale its production capacity to mass-production levels. The round was co-lead by the iconic US venture capital investment fund - DCVC as well as the fund of the former president and CEO of McDonald's - Cleveland Avenue.

iSchool

iSchool

iSchool is an educational platform that teaches children from 1st to 12th grade digital skills. The main market is the Middle East, with over 100 million potential customers.
In 2023, the company generated over $3M in revenue, educating over 4’000 children a month. The 2022 winner Ischool doubled its growth. Very soon, the first deal with the government to educate 10’000 new children will be announced.

VUZ

VUZ

VUZ is a leading immersive social app that allows users to stream and experience a new level of immersive realism in XR and Metaverse digital experiences. A few months after pitching on Webit’s stage, the company raised its $20M Series B round which was led by Caruso Ventures, Vision VC Fund, and strategic investors such as e& capital, investment pillar of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group), DFDF, SRMG, and WIN (Webit Investment Network, the financing arm of the Founders Games).

Ecotree

Ecotree

Ecotree has successfully raised €12 million in June 2022 to help its journey towards becoming the leading European Nature-Based Solutions provider. In this Series B round, EcoTree has welcomed investment from new partners such as Société Générale Ventures, Financière Fonds Privés and Famae Impact. EcoTree has also been invited to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos in January 2023, as part of the 10 'Top Innovators' delegation from the '1 Trillion Trees' initiative.

Lightyear

Lightyear

The Netherlands-based company developing an ultra-energy-efficient automotive platform has had a stellar growth raising $110M in funding less than a year after its win at Webit 2020. They have already built 946 of their first long range solar electric vehicles designed to be grid independent and are on their quest to launch a second highly efficient solar EV at price less than €30K.

Read more Success stories in our News section ».

Why Founders choose
Founders games?

Mission

Founders Games – Curating one of the planet’s most impactful innovation communities.

Our mission is to make more people aware of the challenges and yet manifest the opportunities by discovering the means of solving them through innovation, hard work and the dreams of thousands of founders & countless ecosystem players. This is why Webit announces the world's biggest annual award pool for impact startup competition.

Global Award

$6’000’000 investment award and participation grants for the best startups.

The Founders Games have always been Webit's tool for fostering innovation and supporting the startup ecosystem globally. Since 2009 we have been providing grants to hundreds of companies and supporting them in meeting the right partners, be recognized as future leaders, increase their funding, receive global media coverage, attract potential clients and grow.

Legacy

Supporting discovery and development of impact exponential technologies.

Since 2009 Webit has been committed to fostering a global community focusing on creating a sustainable and resilient future. The Founders Games have been our way of giving back to the community and above all – empowering the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Founders Games yearly stats

250+

investors watch
and evaluate

6000+

startup
applicants

1,500

startups receive
free tickets

200

startups get selected
to pitch and exhibit
for free

65%

of all selected
startups receive funding
up to 8 months after participating

Media Exposure

Leading journalists and correspondents from various worldwide media watch
and attend the Founders Games searching for the next great startup.

Media

RAISING $5M - $100M CURRENT / NEXT ROUND?

The Global Program is Open for Applications!

Apply now

The sooner you apply the more VCs will see you.