If you’re part of a startup that builds hardware, here’s a chance for you and your team to win funding that’ll let you scale your revolutionary solutions. The ITCORE Talent Developer Initiative (ITDi), a non-profit organization pushing for inclusive talent development in Nigeria, has announced a competition for early-stage hardware startups in Nigeria. The contest, tagged the Alphalab Gear Hardware Cup, will award $50,000 to the best physical product idea out of a pool of competing teams from across the globe.
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The 2020 edition of the Alphalab Gear Hardware Cup is the fourth of its kind. At its beginning, it catered to startups from six cities in the United States; this year, it embraces finalists from several other countries, besides the seven regional winners from all over the US.
In that time, over 6,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and startup enthusiasts have either attended or streamed Hardware Cup events. Past winners have gone on to raise impressive funding rounds, and significantly scale operations.
Requirements and Steps
If you’re a startup in any of these areas, you’re free to apply: food, fashion, manufactured goods (including electronics), health, Internet of Things (connected devices), robotics, etc.
Qualified entrants will be invited to pitch at the national finals to hold in February. There they will face a panel, where each startup (considered semi-finalists at this stage) will have four minutes to present their idea and four more to defend it in a Q & A session with the judges.
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The winning startup from this stage will take a sponsored trip to represent the region at the global finals in Pittsburg, USA, slated for May 2020.
Besides the $50,000 first prize, the second and third-placed finalists will receive cash prizes as well.
Intending contestants have until January 31 to enter for the competition. The national pitch day takes place on February 28.
If you would like to register for the ITDi Alphalab Gear Hardware Cup, you can click here to get started.
Featured image source: F6S
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