“STARTUP 2023” is a national startup competition offering financial support for young teams

Mongolia has launched the national startup competition “STARTUP 2023”, designed to support young entrepreneurs and innovative teams. The goal of the program is to provide funding, mentorship, and professional resources, while creating real opportunities for promising business ideas to grow across the country.

The competition targets young people with original startup ideas in innovation and technology sectors. Eligible participants include university and vocational college students aged 15 to 34, as well as graduates of youth employment preparation programs.

A key requirement is that participants must not have paid social insurance or pay it as employers. In practice, this means the competition is aimed at students and early stage entrepreneurs who are not officially employed.

The competition is held in several stages:

Application and registration period from May 10 to May 25, 2023
Bootcamp held on June 2 to June 4, where 20 teams were selected
Accelerator program from June 5 to June 21 with 15 teams participating
Final project presentations on June 23, when the winners were determined

The best teams receive non repayable financial grants from the State Employment Support Fund:

First place receives 20,000,000 MNT
Two second place teams receive 17,000,000 MNT each
Three third place teams receive 15,000,000 MNT each

The competition is organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the State Agency for Labour and Social Welfare.