Thanks to the successful cooperation between the City of Split and the Faculty of Economics in Split, one of the world’s most famous startup competitions is coming to Split for the second time, allowing local startup entrepreneurs to internationalize their business and gain visibility on the global stage. The City of Split has provided a prize fund of HRK 300,000.00 in grants for the most promising startup entrepreneurs.

What is Get in the Ring?

Get in the Ring (GITR) is a global startup competition active in more than 200 cities, providing an opportunity for innovative startups from all over the world to prove their solutions and contribute to solving the challenges of the 21st century.

GITR provides support to startups in the implementation of their projects by bringing them into direct contact with investors and experts to help them solve the problems they face. The competition allows startups to show themselves on the global stage in a stimulating environment through an innovative approach to startup competitions – startups compete against each other in the ring!

The first edition of the Get in the Ring competition took place in 2012 in the Netherlands. Every year, over 200 competitions are held around the world with the participation of thousands of innovators, company representatives, investors, and other stakeholders from the world of entrepreneurship and the media.

Get in the Ring Split

The City of Split, to encourage startup entrepreneurship – aside from creating a stimulating environment for entrepreneurship development and affirmation of new entrepreneurial ideas, as well as encouraging startups in further development – awards grants through Get in the Ring Split competition.

The objectives of the grants are to stimulate economic growth through the following activities: innovative ideas that encourage and help the development of entrepreneurship based on knowledge and innovation, creation and development of new products and services that will better position startups in the market, increased competitiveness through innovative activities, and interaction and opportunity presentations to potential local and international investors.

All business entities within five years of being founded and development teams that do not have a business entity yet, but are developing innovative products or services, from the entire Republic of Croatia, can apply for Get in the Ring Split. Foreigners (digital nomads, etc.) can also apply. However, all grant recipients are obliged to start a company or move the headquarters of an existing company to the city of Split.

The prize fund of HRK 300,000.00 was distributed as follows:

• 1st prize – HRK 120,000.00
• 2nd prize – HRK 70,000.00
• 3rd prize – HRK 50,000.00
• 4th, 5th, and 6th prize – HRK 20,000.00 each

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics in Split, which is licensed to use the Get in the Ring competition format as an international project that is reflected in the international members of the Commission and the opportunity for competitors to present in front of local and international investors. Competitors are also provided with mandatory mentoring to have the best possible preparation for the public presentation of their project ideas.

Startups will be prepared for the competition by mentors from Silicon Castles from Austria – the prestigious European business accelerator for high technologies and intellectual property – as well as pitch trainers from the Get in the Ring Global organization from the Netherlands.

After two phases of evaluation, six applicants will proceed to the finals of the competition where they will compete before international judges. The applicant who wins the first prize has the right to participate in the international competition “Global Meetup 2022” – where the world’s best startups gather to compete – and take advantage of business networking opportunities with investors and partners during the three days of the event.

All details about the published public tender – the beneficiaries of support funds, conditions and criteria for awarding support, the list of documentation to be submitted for applying – can be found on the website of the City of Split: www.split.hr.