Georgia is one of the first nation to adopt Christianity as a State religion, and to this day still counts over 85% of its population that considers themselves Christians.

However, long before that, Georgians had their own mythology. One of the most famous figures of this religion was Amirani.

Amirani was the son of a Goddess but was raised by human parents. His affection for the human race grew his desire to help them.

One day, Amirani kidnaps the beautiful Kamar, the Goddess of divine fire. Amirani harnesses her power and introduces metallurgy to the human kind, therefore establishing the bases for technological development.

It is by combining the beauty of Kamar and the craftmanship taught by Amirani that was born the art of entrepreneurship.

Given the strong ties between Georgia and craftmanship, it seems evident that Burning Heroes, a Georgian global non-profit association, moves its Pitch Competition to London, the craddle of the Industrial Revolution.

Heroes at Home Grown

Selected startups will pitch in front of investors from top VCs, such as Antler, Angels Den, Fuel Ventures, Green Angel Ventures, Humla Ventures, Mount Fund and others. The final pitch will be on 19th February 2024 at the Home Grown Members' Club.

The Pitch Competition is a part of the global series of offline pitches, which opened in autumn 2023. The inaugural session was held in Tbilisi in September 2023 with STORI AI as the winner and people from the Parliament of Georgia, 500 Global, Start and others on the jury board. London will become the second stop of the offline journey of the association.

Startups from any industry are welcome to participate, ranging from SaaS B2B sectors and consumer apps to hardware and green tech solutions. Participants will compete in three categories: Best Startup, Best Product, and Best Business Model. Full selection criteria are available on the website, and they are chosen based on investors' needs.

A Global Association

Burning Heroes is a global non-profit association, aimed at early-stage startups, investors and IT talents. Founded in 2022, the association held 4 startup awards worldwide, 2 industry competitions and a conference, covering USA, UK, EU, APAC, Africa.

"At Burning Heroes, we are deeply focused on social impact through entrepreneurship: our mission is to equalise opportunities for innovation." says Lana Glygalo, Co-founder and Chief of PR at Burning Heroes.

"This includes providing access to venture capital via the association’s network, which is a fundamental aspect of the contests we host, including the one in London. Take, for example, our recent awards in Australia, which highlighted an impressive 80% of the shortlisted candidates as women-led businesses," adds Lana.

Eyes on the Prize

Every participating startup will have an opportunity to gain visibility. The top 5 startups will receive valuable feedback from VCs, accelerators, and experts from leading tech companies. Angels Den, a contest partner, will offer a complimentary onboarding onto the platform for fundraising, and extend a discounted success fee. Winners will be covered by contest media partners: Startups Magazine, one of the leading publications in the UK which champions tech startups and Startup Reporter, an independent media, giving a voice for most valuable early-stage startups.

The final pitch session will be hosted on February 19th, 2024 at the Home Grown Club London – event venue partner. Home Grown Club is the private members’ club that provides entrepreneurial pioneers with unique resources to unlock the true value of their business potential. The event will become a platform for creating warm offline connections between top VCs and most valuable startups.

The competition is entirely free and open for applications through burningheroes.com until February 11, 2024.