Latvian entrepreneurs invited to apply to compete in the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2024

It’s the third year that Swedbank invites entrepreneurs to apply to compete in the national finals of the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2024. To test their strength and the potential of their business idea among the best in the world, entrepreneurs are invited to apply for the national finals by 19 January, 11:59 p.m. The national selection is open to any company registered in Latvia and established in the last 10 years. The national finals of the Entrepreneurship World Cup are organized by Swedbank in collaboration with partners – the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK), Investment & Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), start-ups association Startin.LV, and TechChill as an informational supporter.
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“Last year’s Entrepreneurship World Cup event in Latvia showed that Latvian entrepreneurs are eager to defend their business idea on an international scale, that way getting new experience and adding to the existing expertise. There’s no such thing as too much experience in business, so we’re pleased to offer this unique opportunity to participate in the Entrepreneurship World Cup to Latvian entrepreneurs this year as well. We believe that the winner of this year’s national finals will also bring global exposure for the name of Latvia through pitching their idea to an international jury and potential investors,” says Jevgenijs Ivanovs, Head of Corporate Customer Division at Swedbank.

The aim of the Entrepreneurship World Cup is to boost the competitiveness of companies of various countries, including Latvia, on the global market, as well as strengthening the confidence of Latvian businesses about their business idea, growing faster and getting cross-border experience. By applying in the Entrepreneurship World Cup, companies get a chance to compete for one of the five spots in the Latvian national finals that will take place in March 2024.

Any company registered in Latvia and meeting the criteria regarding the year of founding (the year of founding must be 2014 or later) is welcome to submit its application in English. After the application deadline, the applications registered will be evaluated by a global jury commission. In the 2nd round, the evaluation will be done by representatives of the Latvian national jury, and companies to present their business idea in the Latvian national finals will be announced in February. The main business evaluation criteria remain unchanged: the product, its potential, business model predictability and the team.

The national finals in Latvia will take place in March 2024 where each of the five finalists will be evaluated by the jury members from Swedbank, LTRK, LIAA, and Startin.LV.

From national finals to international competition in Saudi Arabia

The winner of the Latvian national finals will then compete for a ticket to the global finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the prize pool of 1 million US dollars, as well as additional investment opportunities and support for global growth. This is a unique opportunity to represent Latvia internationally and to get global exposure.

Sergejs Jakimovs, co-founder of Longenesis, the winner of the last year’s Latvian finals of Entrepreneurship World Cup and the top 100 finalist at the global finals, underlines: “Winning the Latvian national finals opened up new opportunities and provided many useful contacts for our company, helping us to further develop our business idea with a new global perspective. Last year, at the World Entrepreneurship Cup global finals in Riyadh, we had the honour to represent Latvia on the world stage as one of the 25 most prestigious companies. I would like to encourage Latvian entrepreneurs to be bold and seize this international opportunity. It is these events that allow us to develop most in real competition, with support and advice from experienced mentors, investors and other players in the global business environment". 

The application deadline is 19 January. The competition rules and application form is available on the website www.genglobal.org/ewc.

About the Entrepreneurship World Cup

Swedbank has been the Latvian representative of the Global Entrepreneurship Network  since October 2020, which comes with the unique right to also organize the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) finals in Latvia for a third time. Since 2019, the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) has become one of the largest and most diverse competitions and support programmes of its kind for start-ups, with more than 370,000 entrepreneurs from over 200 countries participating, while offering an impressive prize pool for the winners.