June 4, 2025
Funding is essential to building and sustaining a business, but many sources require ongoing payments or giving up equity. Pitch competitions offer a unique alternative — entrepreneurs present their ideas to judges or investors, allowing them to gain visibility and valuable feedback as well as capital.
Due to Utah’s robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, dozens of pitch competitions are held across the state year-round. Some offer upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and others simply strive to steer entrepreneurs and their startups in the right direction.
The Get Started: Business Idea Challenge is a pitch competition hosted by the Startup State Initiative in partnership with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Earning up to $500 of non-equity funding for any type of business idea, winners are to complete milestones that will progress their startups. Awardees also receive recognition by being featured on social media and the Startup State Initiative’s newsroom.
The State Bank Business Challenge is held during the One Utah Summit, an annual event where business owners and state leaders connect. The pitch competition is intended to identify and support early-stage businesses with high potential, offering $50,000 to winners in 2025.
Get Seeded, a program run by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, gives students a chance to pitch their business ideas and gain early funding and traction. It offers two types of microgrants, which encourage students to complete 30- to 90-day milestones. One grant awards up to $500, and the other offers $500 to $1,500.
Utah Tech Week is an annual gathering where startups, investors, and technology leaders connect over several days of events. A highlight is the pitch competition, where companies have been known to secure up to $250,000 in funding. Those in the audience also have a chance to participate in an open mic flash pitch session to promote their business.
The annual Rise & Thrive Business Pitch Competition, sponsored by the Uintah County Economic Development and the Vernal Innovation Hub, is an example of a more local-based competition. In addition to funding ranging from $4,000 to $12,000, the top three contestants receive full-ride scholarships to the Uintah Basin Technical College for a program of their choice.
In a business-rich environment like Utah, these are only some of the pitch competitions the state has to offer. As with any funding source, it’s important to research before applying and ensure eligibility and deadlines are met. For more information, check out the Startup State Initiative’s event page.
The information in this article is current as of the publishing date and is intended for informational purposes only. This article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal, tax, or business advice. Any resources and organizations mentioned, unless an entity of or a partner of the state of Utah, are not formally endorsed by the Startup State Initiative or state of Utah.