Terms and conditions – KPMG Private Enterprise’s Global Tech Innovator 2022

This competition is being run by KPMG International Limited a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales with company number 12474966. The registered office of KPMG International is at 15 Canada Square, London, E14 5GL. All references to ‘KPMG’, ‘we’ and ‘our’ within these Terms and Conditions shall mean KPMG International Limited.

The competition will open between March and August 2022. In order to enter the competition, you must complete and submit the application form.

Before 23:59 on the dates outlined by the member firm where you are submitting and be available to attend a National Competition during May- August 2022 (successful applicants will be informed of the national competition joining procedures) and the global final at Web Summit in Portugal in November 2022 (as explained below) if your entry progresses to that stage. We reserve the right for national and global events to be virtual depending on relevant restrictions at that time.

This competition is aimed at businesses typically in the start-up and scale up phase and which have innovative technologies, robust business models, the ability to demonstrate traction in their activities and the potential for global scale.

For the purposes of competition, applicants should:

• Be a registered company (including partnerships and equivalent for-profit corporate structures) in one of the following countries/regions/jurisdictions (click on the country/region/jurisdiction name below for the KPMG member firm privacy policy):
  • Africa
  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • India
  • Japan
  • Denmark
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Spain
  • Taiwan
  • Turkey
  • UK
  • US
• Review the KPMG Global privacy policy
• Have been operating for 5 years or less (in current form)
• Revenue generating between USD $1-10m; or have raised at least $500,000 inequity
• Either a pure technology, tech-driven or a tech-enabled business
• Not majority owned by a large corporate

You must be available to pitch your entry at:

• A national competition to be held between May and August 2022 (successful entrants will be informed of the dates for their national competitions); and
• At Web Summit Lisbon, Portugal from 1 November – 4 November 2022 (if selected as a national winner).

All entrants entering the competition on behalf of a company must:

• be residents of the country in whose national heat they apply to participate; and
• be aged 18 or over.

KPMG employees and contractors are prohibited from entering the competition.

The competition is open to KPMG audit clients as decided by member firms.

There should not be more than one entry per company/entity.

All valid applications will be assessed once the application stage closes. Applications will be collated and assessed by KPMG professionals under three categories with equal weighting to each. The categories are; innovation and disruption, market potential, and traction and momentum.

Applicants who are successful after this initial assessment and subject to KPMG screening checks will be invited to pitch at the national competition where they will be judged by a panel of industry professionals made up from within KPMG and outside of KPMG. Some countries will have regional competitions in addition to a national final.

All applications will be scored under five categories with equal weighting to each. The categories are; innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, company growth potential, customer focussed and risk awareness. The decisions of the industry professional panels will be final.
One winning entry from each national competition will win the chance to pitch at the final to be held at Web Summit in Lisbon where the overall winning entry will be announced.

Written feedback will be provided to the applicants in relation to their scores awarded at the country competitions and the final.

There are no charges for entering the Competition. Applicants will be responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary technology and internet access to participate in all virtual/online aspects of the competition.

One entry from each national competition will be selected to go to Web Summit in Lisbon 2022 where they will pitch to industry professionals on stage and one overall winner will be selected as the KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator 2022.

Finalists will receive

• Facilities to exhibit at Web Summit including a dedicated, prominent booth. The conference is attended by 70,000+ founders, investors and corporate decision makers from around the world. Flight, accommodation, exhibiting platform and conference pass are included.
• Profile for their business with media before, during and after Web Summit, leveraging various KPMG channels.
• Attend KPMG events with business luminaires and CEOs from leading fast growth private global business

The overall winner will receive the right to identify their business as the KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator 2022.

Winners of the Competition agree that KPMG may use their name and image, and the name and branding of the company that they are entering, to announce the winner of the Competition and for any other reasonable and related promotional and marketing purposes and shall timely execute any documentation and releases necessary to effectuate the foregoing.

Participants represent, warrant, covenant and undertake that any submissions entered as part of the Competition shall be their own original work and shall not infringe any intellectual property rights of any other person or entity.

Participants hereby grant to KPMG a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable (to multiple sub-tiers) license to use all content provided to KPMG related to the Competition including but not limited to their submissions and pitch materials and any intellectual property included in the submissions, for the purpose of administering the Competition and for KPMG’s business purposes and sharing such content with its network of KPMG member firms and Global entities for their incorporation with, or further development of, solutions to KPMG’s business.

[Participants agree to indemnify and hold KPMG harmless and accepts all responsibility for any and all third party claims regarding copyright or other intellectual property infringement, damages or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from their submissions or made available in connection with the Competition, a breach of these terms and conditions or for any breach of applicable laws.]

The current circumstances mean that KPMG may find it prudent to change the timings or structure of the competition at short notice. For example, it may be necessary to delay or move the final if travel to Lisbon is not feasible for some participants.

If entrants are unable to attend the final due to local travel restrictions, vaccination or quarantine status, or other reasons related to an epidemic or pandemic, KPMG will make reasonable efforts to facilitate their involvement in a virtual way but this may not be possible and all decisions that KPMG takes with regard to the operation and timings or potential cancellation of the competition shall be final. You hereby release KPMG from any claims directly or indirectly related to any delay, change or cancellation of the Competition.

If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions or any law or regulation, KPMG may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you and/or your company from participating in the 2022 competition and future competitions operated by KPMG. By entering the Competition, you are agreeing on your own behalf and all directors, and on behalf of the company which you are entering, to be bound by these terms and conditions.