500 UK entrepreneurs prepare for Global Startup Battle

The biggest ever Global Startup Battle kicked off on Friday 15th November with Startup Weekend events in Sheffield and 95 other cities around the world. In total, approximately 198 cities in 71 countries will host such events as part of the Battle, which runs until mid-December and is an initiative of Startup Weekend, one of the programs operated by UP Global, the not-for-profit dedicated to spreading entrepreneurship.

The first round of the GSB will follow the established Startup Weekend format, with entrepreneurs in each city given 54 hours to form teams and develop their business ideas (e.g. by building a product prototype, or a digital asset like an app or website).

The second round of the GSB will see the teams that emerge from the various Startup Weekend events given 24 hours to submit a video describing their companies, the ‘problems’ they are solving with their products, the progress they have made, and the make-up of their teams.

The UP Global community of entrepreneurs and members of the general public will then vote on the most promising start-ups, and the top two from each event will go through to one of five finalists’ ‘circles’: the Champion’s Circle, the E-Commerce Circle, the Activate Circle, the Innovator’s Circle, or the Women’s Circle. Panels of judges will decide the first, second and third prize winners in the various circles, each of which has its own eligibility requirements, judging criteria, and prizes.

The ultimate winner of the Global Startup Battle—picked from the Google-sponsored Champion’s Circle—will receive up to $20,000 in matched funding following an indiegogo campaign, an all-expenses-paid trip to Google HQ, and an opportunity to pick the brains of a celebrity entrepreneur. All of the winners will be announced after the 12th of December.

The Global Startup Battle 2012 saw 137 events take place in over 60 countries – and was won by the team behind Groupnotes, an online content sharing platform. Groupnotes was subsequently accepted onto the Hyperdrive Canadian seed accelerator platform and continues to grow.

Deborah Rippol, UP Global’s Director in Europe, commented: “There’s a general impression that London is the only startup hub in the UK. But the fact that Manchester, Sheffield, Swansea, Cambridge, and Nottingham are all competing in this year’s Global Startup Battle shows that that is not the case at all.”

“With a third more cities taking part in the Battle this year and bigger prizes than ever before, competition is going to be fierce,” Rippol added, “but even though there’s an ultimate winner, no-one really loses: all of the cities taking part are certain to be left with turbocharged communities of entrepreneurs hungry for success.”

Anyone interested in attending an event and participating in the Global Startup Battle should start by finding an event at:[ilink url=”http://www.globalstartupbattle.co/cities”]globalstartupbattle.co/cities[/ilink]