Get in the Ring: Innovative start-up funding comes to South Africa

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Want to change the world with your business idea? Get in the Ring, a global platform allowing start-ups to pitch, expand their network and secure funding, is now open to pioneering new businesses in South Africa.

Get-in-the-ring---textGet in the Ring is about learning to explain business ideas and requirements very quickly. Through the process, participants actually get to pitch to funders. (Image: Bizmag)

Are you are an entrepreneur with an innovative start-up that needs funding? Get in the Ring could be the initiative for you.

An exciting global platform allowing start-ups to pitch, expand their network and secure funding, Get in the Ring is now open to pioneering new businesses in South Africa.

Any start-up that is eight years old or less can enter. Innovative businesses with a great potential for growth tend to do the best.

“Start-ups are changing the world,” says Jochem Cuppen, global director of Get in the Ring. “They develop innovations at a high speed, defy large companies and find solutions for world challenges. We love them.

“Being part of a start-up is not easy, though. It means a rollercoaster ride with low chances of success, but high returns when succeeding.”

In only three years Get in the Ring has grown from a local event in the Netherlands to a global competition in 64 countries, connecting more than 3 000 start-ups to thousands of funders, and millions of fans.

“Start-ups need resources such as capital, talent and expertise to survive in today’s turbulent environment,” says Cuppen.

“Globally, these resources are available in abundance, but often don’t connect. Sometimes because of timing, or because they are not offered in the right place. Sometimes because they are not well presented, or already taken by others.

“However, they are there, and it is exactly this missing link between talented entrepreneurs and opportunities that drives what we do. We took the challenge to make a change. Will you?”

Get in the Ring is about learning to explain business ideas and requirements very quickly. Through the process, participants actually get to pitch to funders.

GET IN THE RING COMES TO SOUTH AFRICA

The licence to run Get in the Ring in South Africa, all the way through to the International Final in 2017, has recently been awarded to the Real Entrepreneur Institute.

This will include the finals for both the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons of Get in the Ring – the city finals, the national finals, and the regional finals for Central, East and Southern Africa.

The 2015/16 season culminates in the international final, to be held in Medellin, Colombia from 14 to 17 March 2016.

HOW YOU CAN GET IN THE RING

To take part, entrepreneurs simply have to fill in an online application form. The team then vets the applications and selects a few hundred participants to compete.

Get in the Ring is looking for talented people to help make the 2016/17 season a success:

Judges for the six city finals, national final and regional final. Judges should mostly be investors or representatives of funding organisations. Other judges may be well-known entrepreneurs and people in the entrepreneurial development fields.

Trainers to teach participants how to pitch, known as “pitch training”. Get in the Ring are looking for people capable of training at all levels of the competition.

Funders: All the way through the competition participants get to pitch one-on-one with funders, in a coordinated process. The funders then score the participants on predetermined criteria. These scores help determine the final six to battle it out in the ring.

Get in the Ring are looking for venture capitalists, angel funders and representatives from larger funding organisations to participate. Funders may offer participants funding if they see the potential in the business, but this does not influence the results.