All startups – ideally with a digital business model. It does not matter whether the idea is “very fresh” and only a landing page has been launched or whether a seed investment has already been raised. Startups should not be older than 36 months and may have completed a maximum of one Series A financing round. The pitches or the startups are often in the seed phase. We also don’t care if your startup comes from Düsseldorf or our entire association area (government district Düsseldorf). In short: Every startup, whether from Germany or abroad, is invited to apply.

There are pitch dates spread throughout the year. The Unicorn Pitch itself was initially integrated into our Gründerstammtisch event series. Due to its growing success, we positioned the Unicorn Pitch as an independent StartupDorf event format in 2023. Background Gründerstammtisch: Since mid-2013, we have been hosting the Gründerstammtisch and have made our format one of the most successful founder scene meetups in Germany. The event platform Meetup.com has listed us among the top ten in its overview of the largest entrepreneurial networking meetings in Germany.