Orange Grove’s thrilling pitching competition “The Squeeze” was back on Tuesday 14th of May, at 18:00, co-organized by the Netherlands Embassy and the U.S. Embassy in Greece! This edition of “The Squeeze” was even more exciting as it featured innovative startups from the Food and Agri-tech sector and was titled #FarmingtheFuture.
Eight Agrifood startups went head-to-head on Orange Grove’s stage, pitching their business ideas to a panel of distinguished judges from the U.S., the Netherlands and Greece. This was a unique opportunity to be part of one of the top startup competitions in Greece that attracted investors, journalists, successful entrepreneurs, ambitious startuppers and members of the startup ecosystem, all offering inspiration and connections.
And we had an impressive lineup of distinguished judges which included:
– Alphons van Broekhoven, Director at Reggeborgh
– Amu Fowler, Managing Director at ViveDC
– Arjan de Jong, Specialist Lead Data & Analytics at Vattenfall
– Marisa Antonopoulou, Business Development Manager at Action Finance Initiative
We were also excited to welcome back as our presenter Jan Franke, a Dutch journalist in the field of Technology and Innovation, startup enthusiast and mentor based in Tel Aviv.
As always, on the day before “The Squeeze,” the audience had the opportunity to meet the judges at the “Orange Stories” event, during which the judges discussed their experiences and the challenges they faced during their path to success, and answered questions from the audience.
This edition of “The Squeeze” was an official “Road to GES” event, highlighting the strong partnership between the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the U.S. Government in organizing the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (www.ges2019.org) in The Hague, on June 4-5, 2019. The theme of GES 2019 was The Future Now, and was set to attract over 2,000 entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, and innovation ecosystem partners in five focus sectors: Agri-Food, Connectivity, Energy, Health, and Water. Access to finance, job creation and women’s economic empowerment were overarching themes.
The first prize, a trip to the Netherlands to attend the GES summit in the Hague, one of the most important business meetings internationally, was awarded to BioCoS. BioCoS delivers DNA authenticity of botanical raw materials used in products of food industry.
The second prize was received by Peace by Peas. Peace by Peas produces fermented foods that help professionals address the modern consumer needs for better nutrition and taste. They won an educational trip to the Netherlands, including visits to Unilever and FrieslandCampina.
Once “The Squeeze” winners were announced, the event continued with networking, lots of beer, courtesy of Heineken, main sponsor of Orange Grove, and delicious pizza offered by the event’s sponsor L’ Artigiano. Media sponsors of the event were Kathimerini newspaper and SKAI TV channel.
Orange Grove’s thrilling pitching competition “The Squeeze” was back on Tuesday 1st of November, celebrating innovation and impact-driven entrepreneurship! And this edition of “The Squeeze” was even more exciting as it was honoured with the presence of H.M. King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander and H.M. Queen Máxima, along with members of the Netherlands Government, as part of their State Visit to Greece taking place between the 31st October and 2nd November 2022.
The most exciting pitching competition for startups, “The Squeeze” by Orange Grove, was back for its twelfth edition, on March 8th, International Women’s Day (18:00-22:00)!
Orange Grove’s “The Squeeze” competition was back the 23rd of November 2017 and was even more exciting for its 11th edition! “The Squeeze” is the fast-paced and full of energy pitching competition awarding €15,000 and €10,000 in prize money to two lucky startups!
New pitches, new opportunities! Eight ambitious Orange Grove entrepreneurs took the stage on the 27th of June 2017 to present their innovative business ideas to an international panel of experts!
The exciting pitching competition was back on the 30th of March 2017 for its 9th edition with eight ambitious Orange Grove startuppers stepping up and giving their best pitch ever, to win €15,000 and €10,000 in prize money: the ultimate kickstart!
The international pitching competition was back at Orange Grove on September 22nd 2016, from 18:00 until 21:00. Selected Orange Grove entrepreneurs battled to the bitter end, for a chance to win €15,000 and €10,000 in prize money.
The 7th edition of “The Squeeze” pitching competition was back at Orange Grove on 23th of June 2016, offering the opportunity to eight high-potential startuppers to present their ambitious ideas to a distinguished panel of international judges and select audience of investors, journalists and members of the startup ecosystem.
One more “The Squeeze” competition took place 10th of March 2016 with eight aspiring entrepreneurs of Orange Grove taking to the stage to pitch their innovative ideas, answer tough questions and make their startups known to the local and international ecosystem!
“The Squeeze” was back on the 10th of December 2015 for its 5th edition! The thrilling pitching competition invited eight Orange Grove entrepreneurs to go on stage and pitch their startup ideas to an international jury panel of established professionals and a wide audience startup founders, executives, embassies’ representatives, journalists, investors and much more.
On the 26th of September 2015 the 4th edition of “The Squeeze” took place offering the opportunity once more to eight Orange Grove entrepreneurs to claim a total of €25,000 in monetary prizes and present their ideas to a unique audience of journalists, investors, startup founders and much more!
“The Squeeze” pitching competition was back for its #3 edition, on 11th of June 2015. Presenter for the eventing was Peter Economides (Brand strategist Apple’s “Think Different” campaign). Peter was accompanied by an amazing line up of judges squeezing the eight ambitious founders who went on stage to present their unique ideas.
On the 26th of March 2015 Orange Grove welcomed once its innovative entrepreneurs on stage to pitch their ideas and claim the competitions incredible prizes.
The 1st edition of “The Squeeze” took place on 13th of December 2014! Presenter of this inaugural edition of what would become the most thrilling pitching competition and one of the longest running competitions in Greece was Peter Economides (Brand strategist Apple’s “Think Different” campaign). Together with Alexis Pantazis, Jeremy Downward and Costas Maroulis they “squeezed” eight innovative startups of the Orange Grove incubation programme competing for one of the two amazing monetary prizes of the event.
