From November 13 to November 23, Global Startup Battle (GSB) will host Startup Weekend competitions across 250 cities in more than 100 countries around the world, where thousands of talented technologists (and non-technologists) will come together to turn their ideas into real-world entrepreneurial endeavors. While GSB is focused on finding the world champ among all competing startups, the competition also offers startup teams the opportunity to compete in themed tracks, regardless of where they placed at their local Startup Weekend competition. .CO’s custom track, “The Innovators”, is open to all Startup Weekend participating teams that build their company platform on a .CO domain. Those who decide to participate in this track will have to work their way to capture enough votes to make the Top 15 – from which the Innovators track champion will be crowned. This year, the winner of .CO’s Innovators track at the Global Startup Battle will win an opportunity to demo and pitch their idea at The Next Web’s Conference this upcoming May 2016 in Amsterdam (including a $13,000 stipend to cover travel and accommodations). In addition, the .CO Innovators champ will win:
an annual commons starter WeWork membership;admittance to Founder Institute;a set of LSTN headphones for each team member;a set of tickets to any NewCo Festival of the team’s choice;and $120,000 in Softlayer hosting credits and admission to Softlayer’s Catalyst program.
Last year’s winner of .CO’s Innovators track was the Ontario, Canada-based Loop Lab, a company that’s revolutionizing the smart home space by replacing home vent register covers with its own Loop Vent. This article is brought to you in partnership with .CO. Head here to find out more about the .CO Innovators track at this year’s Global Startup Battle, including the judges on this year’s panel and the judging criteria for the competition. Learn more about the Global Startup Battle here.