Startup competitions seeking diabetes companies

They include Ascensia Diabetes Challenge, Alexa Diabetes Challenge and The Diabetes Care Challenge

If you're a startup seeking opportunities to get funded, educated or connected, startup competitions are a great resource.

Vator has been holding its own competitions, using VatorX, to find and filter for the best startups. We've had some very successful and notable winners in the past that have gone on to raise big funding rounds including Thumbtack, DogVacay, Pokitdok, Grovo, Udemy and Apartment List, to name a few.

Anyone can list their program as VatorX is one of the most comprehensive listing guides to startup competitions, challenges, accelerators and programs. Click here to list your program!

As part of our weekly series, we'll look at top competitions with big cash prizes, as well as competitions that have teed up the most promising startups, to finding popular startup competitions you need to know about. 

Here are some of the startup competitions that are focused on diabetes companies:

• Ascensia Diabetes Challenge

Description: "Ascensia Diabetes Care has partnered with yet2 to launch the Ascensia Diabetes Challenge – A GLOBAL INNOVATION COMPETITION. We are seeking submissions for innovative digital solutions that can genuinely change behavior and improve the lives of people with type 2 diabetes. We want to support companies who are developing the next big leap forward in digital solutions for self-management of type 2 diabetes."

Prize: 200,000 Euro total cash prize fund 

Previous winners: Whisk

• Diabetes Challenge – T1D Exchange

Description: "The Challenge is a world-wide competition run by T1D Exchange to identify, nurture and fast-track innovative scientific and clinical solutions for diabetes."

Prize: $50,000 in cash and up to $150,000 of in-kind support

Previous winners: Protomer Technologies

• Alexa Diabetes Challenge 

Description: "Amazon voice-enabled solutions have the potential to be a new partner for this journey. As voice technology transforms the way we live, could it shift from helping manage playlists to helping manage disease?

The Alexa Diabetes Challenge invites you to be among the first to explore how voice-enabled solutions and the ecosystem of supporting cloud technologies provided by Amazon Web Services can improve the experience of those newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes."

Prize: Total cash prize pool of $250,000. Up to five finalists receive $25,000, and one grand prize winner receives $125,000.

Previous winners: Sugarpod by Wellpepper

• American Diabetes Association National Pitch Contest

Description: "The event begins with an Exhibitor Showcase with 50+ HealthTech startups doing tabletop presentations of their technology or innovation, followed by a luncheon where the top 3 companies do a short presentation to a panel of judges and the audience, followed by the audience vote and a winner for the most innovative start-up of the day."

Prize: Not specified 

Previous winners: PancreaCell

• The Diabetes Care Challenge

Description: "Create A Digital Tool That Supports Diabetic Health Maintenance"

Prize: Selected finalist(s) are eligible to receive a cash prize of up to $36,000, as well as the opportunity to receive in-kind prizes, such as free co-working space, a spot on a startup accelerator program, and more items, subject to availability. Selected finalist(s) may also be selected by one or more of the challenge supporters to participate in a pilot, co-development or other business relationship.

Previous winners: None specified

(Image source: smarterware.org)