The UK’s most exciting pitching competition is back! VOOM 2018 is open for voting, so check out the pitches and pick your favourites

VOOM 2018

The UK’s most exciting pitching competition is back! VOOM 2018 is still open for you to enter, or check out the pitches and pick your favourite.

Maybe you have a business you’re trying to grow – or even just a bright idea? Well, throw your hat into the ring, why don’tcha? We’re open for entries until 8 May 2018.

Here’s how 2015 finalist Dan Cluderay of Approved Food described the difference VOOM made to his business: “I thought I was going to get sales – and, yeah, we got sales. But actually it was credibility we got – a massive step up in who we are. Real connections started coming in... the kind of email address you’d die for!”

Thanks to today’s titans of business, our VOOM partners, more than £1 million in prizes is up for grabs, including extra funding, pro tips, tools, one-to-one mentoring – and, of course, invaluable recognition of your business.

Want to get involved?

Of course you do! Click here to enter VOOM 2018. But you don’t have to be a winner to get your hands on the good stuff. Anybody can get involved with VOOM events and get free advice from the pros. Find the VOOM tour bus in Sheffield on 26 April, when the folks from Microsoft, Paypal, Google Digital Garage, and G by Grant Thornton will be waiting to talk business with you, over free cookies and coffee.

And mark these dates in your diary:

8 May 2018: The closing date for VOOM 2018 entries

15 May 2018: The closing date for the public vote

21 May 2018: The VOOM semi-final in Manchester. Entrants with the most popular pitches – the ones at the top of the leaderboard – will face the panel.

23 May 2018: The six who get through will pitch live to Richard Branson and his judges, a selection of business big-hitters. We’ll be covering the action on Facebook, too.