Qualcomm has announced its annual business plan competition inviting technology startups to pitch their business plan. QPrize, Qualcomm’s annual business plan competition was started in 2009 and the last year winner was Capillary Technologies (which also presented at UnPluGGd).
This year, finalists will be selected from each region (North America, Europe, China, South Korea, Israel and India) and the winner will be given $100,000 in convertible note funding plus an opportunity to compete for an additional $150,000 in the Grand Prize Competition. This year, apart from the funding money, there are other partners also which increase the total “potential” funding and support that the companies get.
India regional winners get
- $100,000 in convertible debt (converts at the valuation of the company in the next round)
- Chance to present to Mumbai angels
- Move to the international leg of competition
Globally, Qualcomm has teamed with DEMO, the technology industry’s premier launchpad for emerging technologies, to give QPrize finalists additional exposure within the venture community. QPrize finalists will be invited to DEMO Spring 2011 in California, USA where they will compete for the grand prize and receive an exhibit in the DEMO pavilion.
The deadline for business plan submissions is December 14, 2010. From the pool of competing entries, Qualcomm Ventures will select up to six finalists from the six contest markets. The finalists will each receive US$100,000 (€100,000 in Europe) of convertible note funding from Qualcomm.
The grand prize winner will receive an additional US$150,000 of convertible note funding, for a total prize of US$250,000 in venture financing. Entrants’ submitted business plans are evaluated by a panel of experts based on the merits of the technology innovation, its market potential, the company’s management capabilities and the attainability of the proposal’s financial projections [more details here].
In India, Qualcomm Ventures has invested in 5 companies – Kirusa (voice SMS), MapmyIndia (navigation & mapping), Apalya (TV on mobile), Capillary (customer loyalty and relationship management over mobile) and Tessolve (high-end semiconductor service company).
[Disclosure: Qualcomm is a Pluggd.in sponsor.]
