| Type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Educational |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden |
Venture Cup is a type of a Scandinavian business plan competition in which entrepreneurs with unique business ideas compete for investment capital.
Run by non-profit organizations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, Venture Cup competitions are the largest business plan competitions in the world. Used to promote entrepreneurship within Scandinavian universities and to generate high-growth start-up companies within Scandinavian society, the various organizations award more than half a million euros across Scandinavia on a yearly basis. Each organization runs its competition differently; some consist of several stages, in which participating teams submit ideas or projects for consideration to a professional jury and then develop those ideas into investment-ready business plans. Others (in Denmark, for example) run separate competitions for unique business concepts and well-developed business plans.
The concept of a business plan competition originates from the U.S. where it was developed in the early 1980s. In the 1990s competitions were organized around the world by McKinsey & Company in cooperation with local universities and business schools. In 1998, McKinsey & Company established Venture Cup in Sweden, and in 2000 as an Øresund-based competition with Denmark and Southern Sweden.