The Global Startup Awards is the largest independent startup-ecosystem competition started in 2012, covering 52 countries in 5 regions of Europe, Asia and Africa as of now. Their mission is to find, connect, support, and celebrate key players in national and regional startup ecosystems worldwide and to fuse them together on a global entrepreneurial network, creating a matrix of opportunities for international partnerships, investment opportunities and commercial exchange.

The Global Startup Awards provides an annual spotlight focus to web/tech startups in 25 countries across the globe, with many more regions to come online in the coming years. Each individual regional award places a heavy focus on unearthing and reward the very best from within their respective ecosystems & connecting each of the countries to create a stronger united brand.

The awards stand to represent the entire startup and tech community – from the startups themselves, through to the people behind them, and the organisations that work alongside these visionaries to make the great things possible. This opportunity offers the best value to startups and other ecosystem players with global visions and a clear understanding of the steps they need to take to succeed.

Global Startup Awards is a continuously growing network of regions, running in Europe, Asia and Africa and new regions coming next year from other continents. Their regions include:

• Nordic countries in Europe – Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland
• Central and Eastern Europe – Poland, Chechia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria
• South-East Asia – Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
• SAARC region – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)
• Southern Africa – South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles and Lesotho

The 2018 Award Categories are described below.

1. Startup of the Year: A tech startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation, and impact with a product or service.
2. Best Newcomer: A tech startup that is up to two years old that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation, and impact with their product/service.
3. Founder of the Year: A tech startup founder that has shown notable achievements over the last year in terms of great customer growth, sales, funds raised, uniqueness, impact of the product/service and leadership in the ecosystem.
4. Investor of the Year: An individual or company that has displayed the best investment acumen over the last year. This could be through an exit, early investment of a notable startup, or realization of an earlier investment.
5. Female rolemodel in tech: The most inspirational and influential woman of the startup ecosystem, regardless of being a coder, a founder or a designer at a startup, a mentor or a facilitator, she demonstrates outstanding commitment and professionalism in her field.
6. Best Social Impact Startup: A startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation and impact by developing, and implement solutions to social, cultural, and/or environmental issues aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
7. Best FinTech Startup: A startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation and impact with a product/service/technology in the delivery and/or infrastructure of financial services.
8. Best FoodTech/AgriTech Startup: A startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation, and impact with a product/service that uses technology to improve agriculture and food production, supply chain, distribution channels, and consumption.
9. Best Student Startup: A startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation, and impact with a product/service which is founded and run by students.
10. Best EduTech Startup: A startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation within the education field.
11. Best Accelerator and Incubator Program: A fixed-term, cohort-based, mentorship-driven program that helps and empowers entrepreneurs to foster the growth of their innovative companies by providing tools, resources, connections, knowledge and expertise.
12. Best Coworking Space: A coworking space that deserves the recognition for its services, support, and resources to fast-growth tech start-ups, and for creating a culture and environment that fosters innovation.
13. Best Startup Ecosystem Initiative: A startup initiative that has empowered and supported entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. A startup ecosystem initiative can be an event, a program, a project, an agenda etc. initiated by individuals, community building organisations, corporates & government.
14. Best Water Crisis Management Solution: Startup that has shown the greatest development over the last year based on growth, innovation and impact with a product/service that uses technology that contributes to the improvement of the living environment on a sustainable basis. Possible impacts to be considered include but are not limited to: Improvement of health conditions; Improvements in disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation; More effective and efficient administrative, management and information systems.

During the Regional Grand Finale, all finalists will be welcomed at a closed, invite-only conference to mingle with their partners and other winners, not only startups but also founders and representatives of investment companies, acceleration/incubation programs, corporates and coworking offices. Our international jury board will be also represented.

• They invite nominations from all participating countries listed above
• Anyone from anywhere in the world can nominate their Startup Superheroes from any of the participating countries.

• Phase 1: Nomination opens: Anyone can nominate a person, company or organisation in all categories per country through an online nomination system. Data is gathered from all nominees based on the criteria of each category for the following phase of the competition.
• Phase 2: Selecting National Finalists: A group of ambassadors from each country, through a selection process, evaluate the nominees and choose the best talents based on the criteria of each category which are gathered into a shortlist. The shortlist consists of a minimum of 5 national finalists per category on each country.
• Phase 3: Finding National Winners (Public Voting): Once the shortlist is published online, the public voting for National Finalists opens through an online system. Individuals can only vote one time per finalist.
• Phase 4: Finding Regional Winners (Public Voting): Once the National Winners are published online, public voting opens through an online system. Individuals can only vote one time per finalist.
• Phase 5: Finding Global Winners (Public Voting): Once the Regional Winners are published online, public voting opens through an online system. Individuals can only vote one time per finalist.

To apply, visit your region:

For more information, visit .

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