Requirements & Eligibility

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Requirements

Participation:

You, or at least one team member, will participate in meetings, calls, and events that are part of the program.

If you make it to the semifinals, you will send one team member to participate in the four required events listed here.

Fees:

You must pay the application fee by the application deadline.
If you become a semifinalist, you must pay additional fees in order to participate.

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Eligibility

Your Cleantech Idea:

• All applications must fit one of the competition's six clean technology categories definitions

The state of your startup:

• All entries must be a startup with less than $1,000,000 from private third party funding (from equity investors such as angel investors and venture capital firms) at the time of paying the application fee.
• All entries must be a startup with less than $5,000,000 from all other sources of funding (grants, family and friends, and your own pocket) at the time of paying the application fee; this limit is separate from the limit on private third party funding.

Your Team:

• Two person team, minimum
• At least one team member must be a United States resident, citizen, or legal alien (e.g. F1, H1 visas).
• You may form a brand new team in order to enter the competition.  However, a legal entity (corporation, LLC, or similar) must be created prior to receiving any prizes, and any such legal entity must have an ownership structure typical of an independent startup.

Your relationship with the Cleantech Open:

• You MAY NOT apply if you are a competition volunteer, judge, category expert, mentor, chair, regional director, competition adviser, or if you are in any other way involved with the organization or operation of the competition. Immediate family members of the aforementioned people are also ineligible.
• You MAY apply if you are affiliated with the competition's sponsors and/or partners