A New Way to Fund Innovation

Startups: Pitch to groups of VC and Angel investors Investors: Vote for your favorite startups and win future investment rights Domain Experts: Join a contest and mentor your favorite projects
*Domain experts include industry insiders, professionals, bloggers and other people with unique experience in industries related to a contest.
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We make funding startups easy
StartUps
Let investors compete over you and receive validation from pools of experts.
Shorten your path to funding: Let investors compete over you and receive validation from pools of experts.
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Investors
Earn SAFEs and future investment rights with your favorite projects.
Earn future investment rights in your favorite projects.
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Domain Experts
Connect with future disruptors and start a revolution in your industry.
Connect with, and win investment rights with the future disruptors in your industry. Rank your favorite startups.
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Recent News & Activity
Join a 47Pitches elevator pitch contest
Startup funding made simple

We started 47Pitches to help great startups access funding and gain market acceptance faster and more democratically.

Our goal is to help startups gain faster access to capital and mentorship by "online" consensus ranking and investor-startup relationship building. Pitch contests last ~2-3 weeks and are designed to be more inclusive than a typical incubator or accelerators programs. While our team does vet applicants for initial quality standards, the majority of the validating is done by the collective judgment of our investor and industry insider communities.

  • Get Funded
How we do it

We validate startups by engaging pools of experienced investors and industry domain experts who compete to earn future investment rights by ranking their favorite startups’ elevator pitches. The process is fast and simple, and helps build strong relationships between prospective investors, industry experts and our cohort startups that continue long after the contest and ranking process ends.

Each 47Pitches contest is a unique ecosystem of startups, accredited investors, and relevant industry experts that leverages the collective wisdom of community consensus to determine both the financial potential and market viability of the contestants. Importantly, each startup also creates its own network of interested community members to mentor, fund and help guide its future success.

How we're different

Accelerators and incubators have been a great innovations in startup funding, creating billions of equity value for startups lucky enough to qualify and proceed to funding. 47Pitches works something like a demo day at an accelerator, but for projects that are ready to pitch without in-residence programs or larger equity dilution.

We provide a “pitch ready” format that allows investors to rapidly screen, shortlist and rank their favorite startups quickly starting with a concise 30 word elevator pitch. Startups connect and build relationships with interested investors and mentors faster, while investors can more efficiently manage deal flow and gain access to early stage valuations in their favorite projects. Typical cohorts are ranked by 30-50 angel and VC investors and 20-30 industry domain experts- including academics, industry insiders, bloggers and others with relevant industry experience.

1
Pitch
Startups pitch to communities of experienced investor and industry insider judges via a 30-word elevator pitch and founder video
2
Consensus ranking
Judges rank their 5 favorite startups in order of preference
3
Awards
Judges earn future investing rights if the projects they rank win by consensus
4
Relationships
The goal: establish network relationships that accelerate mentorship, scaling and funding- on one platform
5
Funding
Startups and investors can negotiate funding at any time during or after a contest
Are you ready to make something great happen?
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Have a great startup? Upload your video and let accredited investors compete to invest in your project.
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FAQs
How do pitch contests work?

Our process is designed to expedite funding and to build relationships for startups with potential mentors, investors or strategic partners.

We do this in a two phase process

Startups apply by posting a 1-2 minute video about their project and a 30 word max elevator pitch. This gives startups visibility with our investors and allows investors to indicate their potential interest in each project. If there is sufficient investor interest the project is invited to participate in phase 2 which is a two week pitch contest where investors and in most cases relevant industry insiders interact, rank and potentially fund their favorite projects.

No, you're not obliged to join any contest, but you can join one or more Phase 2 contests if you're invited to do so by our investor community. You always have the option to keep your project posted in Phase 1 until you’re ready to pitch it in a Phase 2 contest. Your only material obligation in registering on 47Pitches is that once you do join one of our Phase 2 pitch contests, you agree to be bound by the terms of the contest SAFE Agreement if you win.

All terms are disclosed to any prospective contest participant prior to becoming eligible to participate in a Phase 2 contest and must then be executed. Participation in Phase 1 carries no obligation; however, 47Pitches must approve all video and pitch narrative submissions prior to posting. 47Pitches retains the right to remove videos and/or ban users from participation at anytime at its sole discretion. and without prior notice or right of appeal.

Pitch contests give your project immediate visibility with groups of experienced investors; it could take months to get that kind of visibility if you tried to connect with and pitch them individually.

More importantly, the contest format creates competition and incentives that help get your project taken seriously and potentially funded faster and with better terms. Investors can add you to their watch list and track your project, even if they don’t invest immediately or vote for your project.

You can invite any of the participating investors to join your 47Pitch online mentoring community to benefit from the experience, guidance, and resources of these experienced mentors. You can also establish an experienced shareholder base with a vested interest in helping you make your project a success.

Phase 1
  • A great project.
  • A 30-word (maximum) elevator pitch.
  • A 1-2 min video that tells investors what’s great about your project. Your video can focus on the problem you solve, the team and/or your product. It can be a “selfie” video taken on a smart phone or something more polished. The goal is to stimulate interest in your project- not answer all potential investor questions.
  • Thats it to start. Our process is designed to be easy and fast but effective in creating awareness and potential funding for innovative projects
Phase 2
  • Links to the founder’s LinkedIn and other social media pages.
  • The 5 most important questions about your project, and your answers.
  • Executed assignment of SAFE document, which will be provided to you by 47Pitches.
  • Optional: you can add your slide deck, investment summary, press releases and other information in our “drill down” section
As with any funding effort, results will depend upon the quality of your project and team, and the fit with the investors who review and rate your project. Getting a top ranking can increase your chances of funding with both 47Pitches investors and outside investors. Your ranking can indicate to experienced investors how viable others in their community consider your project to be. As with any validating or matching process, we cannot guarantee funding by the investor community. Our goal is to increase your chances of a successful funding by creating the shortest path between great projects and their success.
Our process is designed to be a highly efficient way to screen, vet, and connect with the founders of startups and other projects. One of our most unique aspects is that investors can earn equity and/or future investment rights in their favorite Pitch Contest projects. You can screen for projects that interest you based upon the elevator pitch and short team video; then drill down for more information—or pass on the project if it’s not a fit. If a project you rank wins, you receive equity, future investment rights, and/or the option to join the project’s mentor community to receive regular updates and confidential information on its progress. Most importantly, you can choose to help influence the project’s success with your input, mentoring, and resources.
A SAFE, or "Simple Agreement for Future Equity," is typically used as a simplified way for early investors to help fund a project with an agreement that provides for a future valuation and other rights, based upon pre-defined trigger events such as the next round of VC funding. The valuation is typically contingent upon the valuation that is set by the future funding event. We use variations on SAFEs to allow projects to offer small percentage equity equivalents and/or future investment rights, or other rewards, to investors who rank their projects. The terms of each contest will determine the specific rights staked to the SAFE recipients.
There is no cost to investors or startups to participate in 47pitch contests currently apart from optional premium services such as NDA firewalls for confidential information. Certain contests require startups to stake SAFE rights to investors who rank their projects in the event they win the contest by ranking in the top 3. Terms for each contest will be defined prior to the start of each contest.
While our goal is to let the investor community screen and rate exciting startup projects, 47Pitches does pre-screen projects and investors to better ensure quality, standards, and relevance for the benefit of both the projects and the investor community. We don’t, however, conduct due diligence. All users are therefore strongly advised to conduct thorough diligence in the projects or investors they choose to interact with on the platform— or in subsequent funding or commercial relationships.
Pitch Contests are a competitive screening and feedback processes whereby groups of investors and/or industry experts screen, vet, and rank projects based upon elevator pitches, mini-team videos and drill down information. They can include community discussion and Q&A for each project. The process facilitates rapid screening, but with the option for deeper diligence for the projects that investors add to their “I’m interested” shortlists. Each investor can vote for several projects that they rank by preference. This forms a consensus “verdict” that reflects the investor pool’s collective opinion of the best projects in the contest. Winning voters receive equity, rights to future investment, or other incentives contributed by the project participants as an incentive for investors to rank the projects in the contest.
Pitch Contests are a new way for startups to more quickly and fully engage with many prospective investors simultaneously. Our goal is to simplify the currently complex and costly process of raising capital by matching investors with projects through incentivized ranking and community feedback mechanism. Investors benefit from early discovery of great projects plus the ability to win toehold equity participation and future investment rights in their favorites.
Each contest has a different composition of projects and investors. A typical contest can include up to 50 projects and 20 to 50 investors. Consensus winning projects vary with the project size, but usually a contest will include 3 to 5 winning project levels ranked by 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
Projects gain visibility with the investor community whether they win or not. They can also establish funding or mentor relationships with investors who liked their project, regardless of their overall ranking. Investors can make offers to fund any projects in a contest, and in some cases projects can negotiate the same or similar equity instruments with investors after the contest ends, as a means of funding. Non-qualifying projects can reapply for future contests, and can benefit from the feedback they received to improve their subsequent chances of winning.
Although we don’t act as a financial intermediary or funding platform, we believe limited access to Accredited investors increases the experience and overall quality of the investor voting pool. It also reduces the regulatory risk of exposure to non-Accredited investor issues. In the future we may expand access to a broader range of investors in certain contests.
SAFE rights create an incentive for investors to compete to win rights to invest in a startup under pre-announced conditions. This increases investor engagement, competition and urgency with our startups. It also rewards investors for creating a consensus ranking that can help startups negotiate funding faster and, in some cases, under better terms with investors both within and outside of the 47Pitches ecosystem.
We cannot guarantee the confidentiality of the information that you post. However, you have the freedom to choose what information you include in your pitch. In most cases it is not necessary to disclose highly sensitive information for the initial screening process. We offer features that allow you to retain information behind an NDA or “by invitation only” firewalls. Participants are advised to use caution in disclosing sensitive or proprietary information in their initial pitches.
No. We provide a quick screening process whereby you can scan and shortlist only the projects you’re interested in, and then drill down for a deeper understanding. That’s why we use an elevator pitch limited to 25 words to allow quick screening and discovery of projects that are relevant to your interest.
Each contest has its own dynamics, but generally 7 to 10 days is sufficient for investors to shortlist and vote on their favorite projects. Equity rewards are held in virtual escrow and awarded upon release of final voting results. Investors can continue to communicate with projects after a contest is completed.
No. Funding depends upon a project’s fit with our investor network. It’s up to you to sell the merits of your project,  team and valuation.
We make it easier for you to connect with groups of experienced  investors and promote what’s great about your project and team- then negotiated a funding where possible that’s best for you.   Our process is designed to help fast track funding and get your project in front of pools of investors who are motivated to engage with you and make investment decisions.
Don’t worry.  If you win a 47Pitch contest it certainly can add to your credibility and may expedite funding because you’ve been highly ranked a network of accredited investors.  But even more importantly,  ALL participates can get great feedback and establish valuable connections with the voting investors. You can also reinter future pitch contests at no additional costs.
The core goal of our pitch contests is to allow investors, industry insiders, and great startups to create networked connections that propel the future success of the project. So it really doesn't matter if a startup ranks in the top 3 projects, even though a high ranking may increase the likelihood of faster funding. Regardless of a startup’s ranking we invite any investors who ranked it in their top 5 to participate in a syndicated funding of the project. Syndicate investment terms can be proposed by either the startup or the syndicate at the end of the contest, and both sides can negotiate funding on or off our platform. Our goal is to get deserving startups funded and mentored by engaged and experienced investors who add value to the project at all stages.
The contest also provides a new way for investors to access and vet LawTech deal flow more efficiently and negotiate current or future funding at early stage valuations. Both investors and law industry insiders can win equity positions or future investment rights in the consensus winning startups by ranking their favorite projects. You can also join the ongoing online mentor communities for any of the projects regardless of their final contest ranking.
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About 47Pitches
A new approach to startup funding. Faster, friendlier - all online.
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Frequently asked questions
We've prepared a comprehensive list of answers that explain our process in detail
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