AiDiA 2024

Conditions of participation

1. object

AiDiA (Business Empowerment Hub gUG (haftungsbeschränkt), Sorbenstraße 60-64, 20537 Hamburg) has set itself the goal of providing a platform for Afro-German founders and giving them more opportunities.

The event gives founders, young entrepreneurs and start-ups the opportunity to present their business ideas and projects to investors, ecosystem builders and potential business partners and to make contact with them.

2. participation

a. In addition to individual founders, any start-up company that has already been founded and is part of an incubator or accelerator programme can also take part.

b. Participation is possible as a representative of a company in the form of a team or an individual. Participants must be of legal age and authorised to act on behalf of the company. Only one application per company is possible.

c. Participating individuals or teams must be available for preparatory workshops and the final in Hamburg on 17 August - 18 August and 7 September 2024.

d. The founding shareholders should include at least one person with an Afro-German background.

e. The official application start date is 03/03/2024 and the closing date is 07/04/2024 at 23:59. Your application should be completed and submitted via our portal by then.

3. application

a. Registration takes place via the application form by submitting an official document confirming the date of foundation or participation in an incubator or accelerator programme.

b. The participant must inform the organiser immediately of any changes that occur during the application phase and the implementation of the "Pitch Competition"." to the information on the application form.

c. Participants must also provide a team photo and an application video via a cloud download link (Google Drive, Dropbox recommended): Video (60s) - What is your problem, solution/idea, motivation? Why should the community vote for you? (portrait format 9:16)

d. The content must also be downloadable using your link for at least 8 weeks after the application deadline.

e. The content is published for the purpose of presenting and promoting the participants themselves as well as the event (i.e. for marketing purposes).

f. There is no entitlement to participate in the pitch event. In particular, AiDiA reserves the right not to consider applications without giving reasons.

4. rights to the application and the content

a. Participants guarantee that they hold the necessary rights to the business idea or project and its content. If participants are not the sole author or rights holder, they expressly declare that they hold the rights required for participation in the pitch event.

b. Participants grant AiDiA the simple, temporally and spatially unlimited but non-exclusive right to use the application documents and their content, to store them on a server and/or to send them to the panel for evaluation. In addition, AiDiA has the right to create profiles of the participants using the information and content provided and to make these available to interested parties and visitors to the event. This is done in particular by means of handouts, flyers and posters during the event and social media presentations in the run-up to the event.

c. By applying, participants agree to present the content provided for marketing and press purposes. AiDiA will take personal and legal interests into consideration.

d. There is no entitlement to the return of the submitted documents and/or contents.

5. evaluation phase

a. Once applications have been submitted on time, they will be reviewed by a selected AiDiA team for completeness and evaluated according to the following criteria:

- Innovation (What innovations does your AiDiA bring? Does the project already exist or are you a first mover?)

- Economic viability (What economic advantage does your AiDiA bring you? Does your business case pay off?)

- Founder personalities (Who is behind the AiDiA? Do you have the spirit that entrepreneurs need to be successful?)

- Creativity & stage presence (How original is your pitch deck? How unique is your presentation on the pitch stage?)

b. Participants will receive an acceptance or rejection for the next round after evaluation. The business ideas of the applications that have qualified for the second round will be re-evaluated by the Advisory Board after a pre-pitch on 12 May 2024 (idea pitch) and 19 May 2024 (start-up pitch).

c. In the second round, participants have the opportunity to qualify directly for the final via the AiDiA Golden Ticket competition on the social media platform Instagram.

d. If the teams have successfully passed the test of our Advisory Board or have qualified directly for the final through the Golden Ticket competition, they will receive a further acceptance or rejection.

e. Five participants in the start-up pitch and three participants in the idea pitch will be invited to the final.

f. During a two-day workshop, the participants are prepared for their presentation in various sessions and receive valuable input on their business models from our coaches. In addition, participants will be assigned a personal mentor with whom they can sharpen their business model in 3 virtual sessions and optimally prepare for their appearance in the final.

6. pitches and rewards

a. In the final pitch event, participants in the Founder Pitch category will be given 5 minutes and participants in the Idea Pitch category 3 minutes to present their business model. AiDiA reserves the right to adjust the pitch times at short notice if necessary.

b. A maximum of two team members may present their "AiDiA" or their startup on stage, also in English by arrangement. If the presentation is to be in English, there must be at least one person in the team who understands and answers any German questions from the jury. If there are two pitchers, at least 1 person must be Afro-German.

c. In addition to the non-cash prizes, the winners of the pitches will be awarded the following prize money:

- Founder pitch 1st place: EUR 30,000

- Founder pitch 2nd place: EUR 15,000

- Founder pitch 3rd place: EUR 5,000

- Idea pitch 1st place: EUR 2,000

- Idea pitch 2nd place: EUR 1,000

d. The winners undertake to invest the prize money exclusively for the further development of the business idea or the expansion of the start-up. AiDiA reserves the right to request proof of a quarterly report, including a financial overview.

7 Liability and indemnity

If participants submit the application, they guarantee that they will not send or present any content whose provision or use violates applicable law or the rights of third parties. Participants shall indemnify AiDiA against claims of any kind resulting from the illegality of content used by the participants for the application/presentation. The indemnification obligation also includes the obligation to fully indemnify AiDiA from legal defence costs (e.g. court and lawyer's fees).

8. exclusion from participation

Any violation of these conditions of participation entitles AiDiA to exclude the respective participants from participation. This applies in particular if participants provide false information or the content used violates applicable law or the rights of third parties. The same applies to content that could be regarded as glorifying violence, offensive, harassing or degrading or that offends social decency in any other way.

9. in conclusion

a. Should the conditions of participation contain invalid provisions, the validity of the remaining conditions shall remain unaffected.

b. German law shall apply. Legal recourse for review of the award is excluded.