Do you have a novel, early-stage business idea?
The KickStart Challenge is for aspiring entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas they’d like to test, validate and prepare to launch.
What’s in it for you?
KickStart Challenge can be your first step towards commercialisation, designed to test the robustness of your idea, equip you for the realities of entrepreneurship and prepare you for our more advanced challenge categories.
£10k
First prizeWinning our top prize will get you £10k in equity-free cash to help progress your business idea plus fast-track entry to the semi-finals of our most relevant advanced challenge category.
2x £7.5k
Runner-up prizesTwo runners-up will each receive £7.5k in equity-free cash towards developing their idea and preparing to launch their business.
3x £5k
Special prizesWe have three special prizes of £5k to give away to deserving projects in areas including climate action and wellbeing.
Training
Bespoke trainingAll successful applicants enjoy a money-can't-buy package of training and pitch coaching from experts with real-world experience of starting and growing successful businesses.
Who can apply?
The Kickstart Challenge is open to those taking the first steps of their commercialisation journey, designed to help you establish the viability of your idea and prepare for the challenges of entrepreneurship. We welcome applications from across industry sectors and enterprise types, for both product and service-based ideas.
Read our full terms and conditionsStaff and students at all Scottish Higher Education Institutions are eligible to apply.
Recent graduates (up to *24 months after graduation from the initial application date) from Scottish Higher Education Institutions are also eligible to apply.
*If you can demonstrate that your project has been delayed by Covid-19, we may consider applicants who have graduated within 36 months. Talk to our Enterprise team if you think this applies to you.
Team and joint applications are accepted, provided one member of the team is a student, recent graduate or member of staff from a Scottish Higher Education Institution.
Applicants must plan to have their business headquartered in Scotland.
The lead applicant must be available for our awards ceremony. We highly recommend you attend our training events too as past experience has shown these dramatically increase the quality of business plans/cases and the chances of reaching the next stage of the challenge.
You must either own or have the right to use and commercially exploit all Intellectual Property Rights related to your business idea.
This challenge is aimed at early-stage projects that have the potential to become high-growth businesses. Applicants need to demonstrate feasibility and early market research.
Judging criteria
Kickstart Challenge applications are judged on the novelty and innovation of the idea combined with clarity of planning. We’re looking for individuals and teams who understand what it takes to get market ready and launch a business. Successful applicants will be able to demonstrate product/service feasibility, a strong USP and market demand.
Innovation
Demonstration of market need
Understanding of your market and customers
Clarity of product/service development plan
Viability of proposed business model
What’s involved?
Our challenges are split into four stages over a period of eight months. Applications open in January and these are evaluated by a panel of university representatives.
Successful applicants are then invited to attend the Converge entrepreneurial training programme (23-26 May) that prepares them to put forward a business case and 1-minute video pitch to be assessed by a panel of university representatives.
Shortlisted business cases are then evaluated by a panel of business experts with the winners announced at our annual Converge Awards ceremony on 3 November.
How it Works- Application Deadline
5 April - Business Training
23-26 May - Business Case Submission
1 August - Awards Final
3 November
Judging panel
We select our expert judging panel from a wide range of industries for their unique experience and insight gained from launching, growing and nurturing businesses in Scotland.
Cynthia Moore-Opdam
Business Coach, Innovation & Entrepreneurship South of Scotland EnterpriseCynthia is the Business Coach for Innovation & Entrepreneurship with South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), where she provides 1-2-1 and group coaching to (budding) entrepreneurs. She is passionate about empowering people to create business success by enabling entrepreneurial mindset, building resilience, (self-) leadership and skills.
Cynthia is the founder of Cynthia Moore Coaching, which provides executive coaching to professionals and leaders in their field. She brings a wealth of experience and best practice from her time in industry as a program manager, implementing business change programmes.
Graham Reid
Board Member Apollo Informal InvestmentGraham is a qualified accountant and former Finance Director with extensive executive experience in private equity ownership, debt financing, rapid growth management and transformational IT projects.
He is an angel investor, a non-executive director for two angel-backed startups and is a board member of angel investor syndicate, Apollo Informal Investment. Graham was Group Finance Director of CALA Homes for 18 years and was Scottish Finance Director of The Year in 2018.
Mandy Bailey
Regional Eco-System Manager for Scotland The Royal Bank of ScotlandResponsible for key partnerships and collaborations, Mandy provides support to businesses at all stages and where it’s needed most.
Mandy joined the Royal Bank of Scotland two years ago as Local Enterprise Manager, Scotland East providing enterprise support and expertise in the business community. Mandy joined after nine years as MD of her own small business and 10 years in a family horticulture business.
Iain Mackie
Lead Investor, Scotland Creator FundIain is the Scottish Lead Investor at Creator Fund, a university-focused deep tech VC that backs Europe's most exciting start-ups. Iain previously worked in Quantitative Trading and Asset Management before founding a successful e-commerce data start-up that supports some of the UK's fastest-growing brands. He is also an angel investor and board observer of Edinburgh-based robotics start-up Touchlab.
Iain holds an MA in Applied Economics, an MSc in Data Science, and is currently pursuing a PhD in machine learning and search systems. In addition, he is currently taking part in the final of Amazon's Alexa Prize Taskbot Challenge, where teams build multi-modal conversational agents to help users navigate real-world problems.
Resources
Learn more about taking the entrepreneurial leap, boost your business skills and find resources to help you polish and perfect your challenge application.
KickStart application form 2022
Downloadable fileA preview of the application form you will need to complete online.
FAQs 2022
Downloadable fileAnswers to commonly-asked questions to help you on your way
Guide for Applicants
Pre-Application PackThinking about applying? This handy little pack summaries everything you need to know and even gives examples of previous, winning applications to help you take the leap.
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Case study
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