SC Ventures Pitch Competition 2026 – Singapore 

Pitch your fintech & AI startup in front of global investors for a chance to win the prize of SGD 10,000 equity-free grant

LIVE in Singapore – come meet investors and operators who back and build category-defining companies

Watch the full recording on YouTube!

5-7 founders will have a chance to pitch in front of a panel of expert judges: partners from SC Ventures, Plug and Play, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA), and Elev8te.

Who qualifies?

Must be a registered entity in Singapore
Company must be less than 4 years old and have less than SGD 1M in funding thus far
In fintech and AI, with a preference for enterprise solutions
Have active customers/users
Founder must be at least 18 years of age

What do i get?

Live pitch in front of investors, industry experts, and the startup community
Expert feedback from world’s leading VCs and venture builders
A chance to win SGD 10,000 equity-free grant

Meet the Judges

Harald Eltvedt

Operating Member, Head of Venture Building

SC VENTURES

Harald is an operating member of SC Ventures, Standard Chartered Bank’s venture building arm. He is a serial entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience building technology startups form inception to exit. He was previously managing director at Havas-Ekino, co-founder of RevSquare (acquired by Pentalog-Globant NYSE: GLOB) and healthme (acquired by WebMD). Harald has an MBA from INSEAD and is passionate about swimming and sustainability.

Manav Narang

Head of Financial Services, APAC | Head of India

Plug and Play

Plug and Play connects startups with more than 550+ corporate and government partners as well as investors and universities across more than 60 locations and 25 industries worldwide. As Head of Financial Services at Plug and Play APAC, Manav leads corporation innovation and startup investment in fintech, Insurtech, and healthtech verticals leveraging his deep experience from consulting, venture capital, and corporate business development.

Aakash Kapoor

Principal

Peak XV Partners

Principal at Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA), where he works with early-stage startups across fintech, consumer tech, and commerce. Peak XV has invested over USD 9B across 400+ companies in India and Southeast Asia. Aakash is a founding member of Surge, the firm’s rapid scale-up program, and serves as an advisor and board member to several high-growth companies including Aspire, Tazapay, Kast, and more.

Sharmin Reehman

CEO

Elev8te

CEO & Founder of Elev8te, where she designs programs and advisory initiatives that connect founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem partners. Deeply committed to founder development, she has helped build, launch, and scale hundreds of early-stage startups across APAC and the US. Sharmin is the City Leader for Founders Live Singapore  and a mentor with German Accelerator and Accelerating Asia, supporting founders on go-to-market strategy, leadership development, and regional expansion across Southeast Asia.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Apply here on our FinTech Bridge Community platform.
1. Click on the “Apply now” button on the challenge page.
2. You will be prompted to sign in/set up an account. Create your account by clicking “Join Fintech Bridge”.
3. After setting up your account, verify your profile by clicking on the link sent to your email, and click on “Back to login”.
4. Sign in and complete your profile by responding to a few questions.
5. You will then be prompted to apply to open challenges.
  > Click on the “SC Ventures Pitch Competition 2026” module to start your application.
Submit your pitch deck and a 2-3 minute video by Friday, 20 February.
Notes:
1. Keep your pitch deck under 15 slides max.
2. The video should be informal – just a walkthrough of your startup and the founding team.
5-7 finalists will be notified by Tuesday, 24 February via email. You must confirm your participation within 48 hours in order to secure your spot.
Each founder gets to pitch on stage on Thursday, 5 March – 5-minute pitch and 2 minute Q&A from judges.
The judges will announce the winner at the end of the event.
The judges will also share their feedback with the other finalists.

Terms and Conditions

Please read the Pitch Competition Terms & Conditions before submitting. By submitting your application, you agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions.

Terms & Conditions

How will applications be evaluated?

We will evaluate each application to select the finalists based on:

Founding Team – Experience & Track Record
Problem Definition & Customer Pain
Market Size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
Go-To-Market Strategy
Competitive Analysis: Solution & Differentiation
Traction & Proof Points
Financials
Business Model & Monetisation
Pitch Quality & Clarity

Key dates

Friday, 20 February: Applications Close
Tuesday, 24 February: All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application
Thursday, 26 February: Finalists to confirm participation at Pitch Finale
Thursday, 5 March: Fintech & AI Pitch Finale

Come watch Singapore’s most promising fintech and AI startups pitch live.

Join us on 5 March 8:30am SGT at The Nanson.

Sign up for FinTech Bridge to get free access to all of our content.

You will be able to submit your application on FinTech bridge as well.

Sign up for FinTech Bridge to get free access to all of our content. You will be able to submit your application on FinTech bridge as well.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

By Alex Manson, CEO, SC Ventures

Buy the book to learn about SC Ventures’ unique approach to venture building and how many of the startups were created. 

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Terms and Conditions

Please read the Pitch Competition Terms & Conditions before submitting. By submitting your application, you agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions.

Terms & Conditions