A'Pelago Pitch Challenge: Seeks blue economy startups driving impact in ocean restoration and resilience
The winner will be awarded a ¬25,000 convertible loan investment, to be announced at the competition's final on August 21 during the A'Pelago Initiative 2025, held at Ruissalon Telakka, Turku.
The Baltic Sea’s blue innovation ecosystem is thriving, and the A’Pelago Pitch Challenge 2025 stands out as one of its key initiatives. This competition is seeking startups developing solutions to reduce marine pollution, restore coastal ecosystems, and promote climate resilience.
Selected startups will receive tailored mentorship and gain exposure to investors and industry experts. The winner will be awarded a €25,000 convertible loan investment, to be announced at the competition’s final on August 21 during the A’Pelago Initiative 2025, held at Ruissalon Telakka, Turku. Applications are open until May 31.
This challenge aims to:
- Catalyze and promote economically viable sea conservation, climate resilience, marine pollution minimization and blue economy solutions for the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems
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- Give the opportunity to applicants to have their solution reviewed by a Committee of Experts
- Train 10 finalists at the pitching technique in order to develop their presentation skills, and increase their chances to have their solution funded by investors
- Reward the top candidates during a Finals at A'Pelago Initiative 2025, 21.8. in Turku, Finland.
What are the selection criteria?
Business performance
- Commercial viability: Description of the financial maturity, market demand, potential business cases and time-to-market strategies for technology industrialization. Ensuring practical feasibility, attractiveness to clients, and long-term cost-effectiveness.
- Fundraising success: Successful fundraising as a marker of the start-up's ability to attract investment across development stages.
Innovation and Potential for disruption Industry applicability
- Clear demonstration of how the innovation will generate measurable impact towards the focus areas of this challenge.
- Technology readiness: Current technology readiness level (TRL), favouring higher TRLs, while acknowledging prototypes for novel solutions with longer development cycles. Assessing the time-to-market timeline of the innovations.
Impact
- Clear impact pathways: Clear narrative towards relevant stakeholders with expected measurable environmental and socio-economic impact linked to the innovation proposed.
- Clear impact metrics: For instance, reduction of energy use, reduced footprints of CO2, water, land, and other environmental impact measures.
Team
- Team dynamics: Balanced team with visionary leadership and complementary skills across technical, business, and operational areas. Key traits include adaptability, clear vision for the company, resilience in the face of challenges, ethical considerations in technology deployment and ability to raise capital.
Technical and operational competence
Deep technical expertise in the relevant domain, proven experience in R&D, understanding of the market and customer needs, and the ability to execute projects with efficiency and agility.
With information: apelago.fi