2013
Growing to a global phenomenon
Get in the Ring 2013
Already in its second season, Get in the Ring was growing to a global movement. The innovative pitching concept was gathering fans in all corners of the world at an accelerating speed. In a year time, Get in the Ring grew to 32 countries with 1000+ startups from all over the world participating. The competition was fierce. Join us in looking back to the highlights of this season and success stories, including 100M+ exit of our winner.
Highlights of the Season
"Entrepreneurs are the greatest natural resource!" clearly concludes the #GITR13. my highlight - the inspiring story of @ontheroadwithiv
— pelagiya dragomirova (@pelagiya) November 22, 2013
Talking w/ young entrepreneurs & students on mentoring #GITR13 It's important to give & get help on your journey #gew pic.twitter.com/7BfuxlQXLd
— Ingrid Vanderveldt (@ontheroadwithiv) November 22, 2013
Looks like @EyeVerify @TobiasRush is starting quite the belt collection. Congrats again on your win! #GITR13 #GEW pic.twitter.com/5YXZAPohbh
— Kauffman Foundation (@KauffmanFDN) November 22, 2013
Oh wow one the Dutch start up already made 2.4 million in revenues and has clients like NASA and Boeing #GITR13
— Irmansyah M Putera (@irmaners) October 15, 2013
Jury discussing the winner of #GITR13 Dutch nationals at the roof of @NHHotelesNL in centre of @rotterdam pic.twitter.com/NHumy95FEp
— ECE (@Entrepren_EUR) October 15, 2013
In 2013 Get in the Ring attracted startups from all over the world to participate in the competition. We kicked off the season in Brazil during the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013, hosted the North American Clash in Kansas City and held the first virtual semi-finals with our participants from our home base in the Netherlands.
Kicking off the season in Brazil
Get in the Ring wins the Compass Award
We launched the season of 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
Not only did we start our competition season, the Netherlands receiving the Compass Award for the most innovative and creative branding, with the credits going to Get in the Ring.
Take a look at Jonathan Ortmans the President of the Global Entrepreneurship Week announcing the winner of the award.
National Final
The Netherlands
The Dutch Finals of Get in the Ring 2013 was a milestone in claiming the leading position in the Netherlands entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The event took place in the Atlanta Hotel Rotterdam. Here various break-out rooms to engage with the participants were created. In the evening the final pitches from the finalists made for an exciting finale, giving the jury a hard time during their deliberation to select a winner.
Regional Final
United States
The first edition of Get in the Ring in the United States was nothing short of a big success. From Alaska to Florida, Minnesota to Missouri and many points between, the founders of U.S. startups stand ready to give it their best shot at “Get in the Ring: The American Startup Clash.”
A total of 283 U.S. entrepreneurs looking to scale their startups applied to compete in Get in the Ring. On November 18 in Kansas City eight finalists battled to convince a panel of judges that their startup is the best in the nation.
Champion jury members
Mark Ecko
Global Designer and Founder of Ecko
Jeff Hoffman
Partner and Co-founder of Color Jar
Steve Felice
President and CCO of Dell
The virtual semi-finals of 2013
For the semi-finals we had 64 finalists from all the events across the globe enter the competition with a video-pitch to kick off the selection process. Out of these 64 finalists, 8 were selected to continue unto the finals held during the Global Meetup 2013 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
THORAN
FLOOW2
MIGOA
POPVOX
REPP
Rotterdam
Global Meetup 2013
Eight of the most promising startups met each other at the Global Meetup in Rotterdam. A Rock Star treatment and battles to secure an investment of up to 1 million euro in front of 4 Champion investors, and an audience that was ready to invest on the spot. Get in the Ring was the first competition in the world to offer a live crowdfunding campaign and allow visitors to directly support the most promising startups from all corners of the world.
Champion jury members
Bala Kamallakharan
CEO of GreenQloud
Ingrid Vanderveldt
Entrepreneur-In-Residence for Dell Inc.
Riku Asikainen
Founder at Evli Growth Partners
Fatih Isbecer
Founder of Pozitron
Global Winner 2013
EYEVERIFY
United States – Missouri
EyeVerify is a security company that provides EyePrint ID, a biometric verification solution for mobile devices. This patented authentication solution uses existing cameras on smartphones to match the blood vessels in the whites of the eye.
Available on smartphones and tablets, the application protects data with a high entropy encryption key which is equivalent to a 50-character complex password.
@TobiasRush is on deck to talk to @1MillionCupsKC about our global win for #GITR13. Yes, he will be wearing the belts pic.twitter.com/Hhk5eRlaGO
— ZOLOZ (@zolozid) December 4, 2013
After Get in the Ring
Crowned Global Winner of Get in the Ring 2013. Toby Rush, founder of Eyeverify, went on to eventually sell his company for $100m USD to Ant Financials.
In an interview with Top of Mind, Toby dives into his experience as Global Winner of Get in the Ring.
“There is no other competition like it, It was the Olympics for Start-Ups.”
In his webinar for Global School for Entrepreneurship, Toby also shared his experience of participating in Get in the Ring and how it gave him further exposure and opportunities.
Runner ups of 2017
Playir
United States
Smadex
Spain
Mindful Scientific
Canada
JackSavior
The Netherlands
Jinvator Biomed
Germany
HutGrip
Bulgaria
Truckbird
Greece
This was the most fantastic startup competition I’ve ever been part of, and I have been part of a lot of them. This was amazing.
Ingrid Vanderveldt – Champion International Final 2013 & Entrepreneur-in-residence at Dell