North Carolina
Startup Pitch Competitions & Grants
A running list of pitch competitions, demo days, and non-dilutive grants open to startups in and around North Carolina. Covers the Triangle, Charlotte, the Triad, the coast, and western NC.
Updated July 2026 · 41 listings
Deadlines by month
This reflects typical timing and some listings are inferred from recent cycles. Always confirm current dates.
Every listing
2 Minutes to Win It
UNCG NC Entrepreneurship Center
Two-minute student pitch competition held during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
$1,000 first prize.
49er Impact and 49-Minute Pitch
UNC Charlotte Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
UNC Charlotte student pitch competitions running each semester, with awards up to $8,000.
Big Idea Pitch
Appalachian State Center for Entrepreneurship
App State student pitch competition running each semester with cash prizes.
Carolina Challenge
Innovate Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill
UNC's venture competition, running a fall Pitch Party and a spring Makeathon.
More than $25,000 awarded annually across both events.
Gene T. Aman Pirate Challenge
ECU Miller School of Entrepreneurship
The largest student startup competition in the UNC System, awarding more than $280,000.
Rounds run in October, February, and April. More than $1 million awarded since 2018.
Wolf Den
NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Shark Tank style student pitch competition held during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Duke Startup Challenge
Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Multi-round Duke student venture challenge culminating in spring finals.
Wake Forest Founders Pitch
Wake Forest Business and Industry Partnership
Twice-yearly pitch competition for founders in Wake Forest and northern Wake County.
Around $10,000 in cash prizes. This is the town of Wake Forest, not Wake Forest University.
CED GRO Demo Day
CED
Demo day closing CED's twelve-week program for tech and life sciences founders.
Two cohorts a year. The most recent Demo Day competed for $25,000 in cash prizes.
CED Venture Connect
CED
Two-day capital conference where scaling NC startups pitch to a national investor audience.
Held at DPAC in Durham. Covers tech, biotech, agtech, food innovation, and CPG.
Duke Startup Showcase
Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Duke's flagship student venture competition, awarding $115,500 with a $30,000 top prize.
PNC NC HBCU Pitch Competition
PNC Foundation
Pitch competition for students across five North Carolina HBCUs.
Participating schools include Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, Johnson C. Smith, NCCU, and Winston-Salem State.
RevTech Labs Demo Day
RevTech Labs Foundation
Fintech and insurtech demo day in front of Charlotte investors.
Post-MVP fintech and insurtech companies.
ScaleUp WNC Pitch
Mountain BizWorks
Closing pitch for western NC businesses completing the ScaleUp cohort, with a $1,000 award.
Serves 26 western NC counties. Women, minority, veteran, and rural founders encouraged to apply.
The Pitch at NC A&T
Thurgood Marshall College Fund and NC A&T
HBCU student pitch competition awarding scholarships and prizes.
Charlotte Venture Challenge
UNC Charlotte Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Long-running Charlotte-region competition with student, research, and community founder tracks.
Formerly run by Ventureprise. Community founders compete alongside student and research tracks.
Eagle Idea Pitch Competition
NCCU Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
NCCU pitch competition for aspiring founders, with cash prizes for early-stage ideas.
Dates were not posted at time of writing. Confirm with NCCU CEED.
IdeaFest
The Launch Place
Danville-based competition serving the Dan River region including northern NC counties.
$10,000 total across three places. Geographic eligibility is limited to the Dan River region.
NC IDEA MICRO
NC IDEA Foundation
Up to $10,000 in non-dilutive funding for early-stage NC companies validating an idea.
Two cycles a year, roughly 15 awards per cycle.
NC IDEA SEED
NC IDEA Foundation
Up to $50,000 in non-dilutive funding, awarded to a small cohort twice each year.
Requires at least one full-time founder based in NC. You can apply to SEED or MICRO in a given cycle, not both.
RIoT Accelerator Program Showcase
RIoT
Founder showcase and pitch night closing a twelve-week program that takes no equity and no fee.
Zero cost and zero equity. RIoT is joining NC IDEA.
Startup Lab and Deac Tank
Wake Forest Center for Entrepreneurship
Wake Forest student venture programs offering seed funding through spring pitches.
Tar Heel Madness
Carolina Angel Network
Bracket-style competition for eight startups with a UNC-Chapel Hill connection, decided by member vote.
Open to pre-seed and seed startups under $2M raised with any UNC-Chapel Hill tie. Companies can be based anywhere. Next cycle dates were not posted at time of writing.
VenturePack Challenge
NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship
NC State's flagship student startup competition, awarding $128,000 across multiple tracks.
Formerly the Lulu eGames. Includes a Daugherty track for startups licensing NC State IP.
EcoInnovate Weekend
UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Wilmington weekend event where teams build and pitch ventures, formerly Startup Weekend Wilmington.
Launch Greensboro Capital Connects
Greensboro Chamber of Commerce
Triad pitch event held during Greensboro Startup Week with cash and in-kind prizes.
NC TECH TechFest Startup Showcase
NC TECH
Five NC startups give three-minute pitches to an investor judging panel.
First held May 2026 in Durham. Timing may still shift.
Seed the South, Big Pitch
Innovate Charlotte
Ten finalists plus a wild card pitch for two $50,000 investments from The Charlotte Fund.
One company can win both prizes for $100,000 total. Applications typically open mid-February and close March 31.
Elon Innovation Challenge
Elon University Doherty Center
Elon student venture competition with spring finals and cash prizes.
Grep-a-Palooza Pitch Competition
GrepBeat
Fifteen NC startups pitch across three sessions for $5,000 in cash, decided by audience vote.
Held at the Durham Convention Center. Open to NC-headquartered startups under $3M in revenue.
ConvergeSouth
Flywheel Foundation
Two-day Southeast startup expo with three vertical pitch tracks and a title round.
August 27 and 28, 2026 in Winston-Salem. Tracks cover healthtech and biotech, AI and B2B SaaS, and food, beverage and agtech.
Launch Chapel Hill
Launch Chapel Hill and KPMG
Cohort demo day open to any founder, with no university affiliation required to apply.
Despite the name, this is open to any founder, not only UNC-affiliated ones.
Next Venture Summit
NextGEN
Greenville summit with an investor Match Day, an easy drive from Charlotte and the Triad.
Pitch Please
Raleigh Founded
Raleigh pitch event where founders present to local venture capitalists for live feedback.
Venture Atlanta Startup Showcase Live
Venture Atlanta
The Southeast's largest VC conference. NC startups are eligible and regularly selected.
$375,000 investment prize. Applications open in May and close in August.
Dig South Wild Pitch
DIG SOUTH Media
Charleston tech summit pitch competition offering a berth at the Startup World Cup.
One NC Small Business Program
NC Department of Commerce
Matching funds for NC companies that have already won a federal SBIR or STTR award.
Requires an existing federal SBIR or STTR award.
PitchBreakfast
PitchBreakfast
Monthly Charlotte pitch event where three founders present to an investor panel for live feedback.
Second Wednesday of every month. Free to attend, apply any time.
Raleigh-Durham Startup Week
Raleigh-Durham Startup Co.
Free week-long Triangle festival with investor matchmaking and more than 100 sessions.
Not a competition, but where a lot of these conversations start. Free to attend, no application.
The Boost Pad Pitch Night
The Boost Pad
Charlotte cohort pitch night awarding $5,000 in startup currency to under-resourced founders.
Open to founders in Mecklenburg and 16 surrounding counties.
Venture Asheville Demo Day
Venture Asheville
Western NC demo day and pitch showcase for Asheville-area high growth startups.
Where else to look
- GrepBeat at https://grepbeat.com. Triangle startup coverage. The Monday Mix post lists that week's application deadlines and is the best free deadline feed in the state.
- F6S at https://www.f6s.com. Global searchable database of competitions, accelerators, and funding programs.
- WRAL TechWire Startup Guide at https://startupguide.wraltechwire.com/competitions-grants-other-funding/. Long-running NC funding and competition reference.
- NC Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Map at https://nceem.org. Directory of NC support organizations and programs.
Questions founders ask
What pitch competitions are open to Raleigh and Durham startups?
Founders in the Triangle have several options open to any founder: CED Venture Connect at DPAC in Durham, Grep-a-Palooza at the Durham Convention Center, the CED GRO Demo Day in Research Triangle Park, Launch Chapel Hill, and Pitch Please in Raleigh. Raleigh-Durham Startup Week is a free week-long festival with investor matchmaking, and is where a lot of these conversations start.
Which North Carolina pitch competitions are open to founders who are not students?
Filter the list above by Open to: Anyone. Options include CED Venture Connect, Seed the South, Grep-a-Palooza, ConvergeSouth, CED GRO, Launch Chapel Hill, RIoT Accelerator, PitchBreakfast, NC TECH TechFest, Charlotte Venture Challenge, Launch Greensboro Capital Connects, Pitch Please, Venture Asheville Demo Day, and EcoInnovate Weekend. NC IDEA SEED and MICRO grants are also open to any NC-based founder.
When are the NC IDEA grant deadlines?
NC IDEA SEED and NC IDEA MICRO both run two cycles a year, with application windows in February and August. SEED awards up to $50,000 and MICRO awards up to $10,000. You can apply to one or the other in a given cycle, not both.
Are there pitch competitions in Charlotte, the Triad, or western North Carolina?
Yes. Charlotte hosts Seed the South, PitchBreakfast, Charlotte Venture Challenge, The Boost Pad, and RevTech Labs. The Triad has ConvergeSouth in Winston-Salem and Launch Greensboro Capital Connects, plus student programs at Elon, NC A&T, Wake Forest, and UNCG. Western NC includes ScaleUp WNC through Mountain BizWorks, Venture Asheville Demo Day, and App State's Big Idea Pitch.
What is the largest startup pitch competition in North Carolina?
By prize pool, ECU's Gene T. Aman Pirate Challenge is the largest, awarding more than $280,000, but it is limited to ECU students. Open to any founder, Seed the South's Big Pitch is the largest, with two $50,000 investments that one company can win together for $100,000 total.
Do I have to be based in North Carolina to enter?
It depends on the program. NC IDEA grants require a full-time founder based in the state, Grep-a-Palooza requires an NC headquarters, and Tar Heel Madness only requires a UNC-Chapel Hill tie so the company itself can be based anywhere. Regional programs like Venture Atlanta and Dig South accept NC startups alongside the broader Southeast. Check each listing's site for current eligibility.
Know one we missed?
If you know of an event/grant we missed, or if you spot an error, please share below.
Maintained by Well Refined Studio · Updated July 2026