Entry Pitch - Evolve

Chemovator is looking for great people and ideas from BASF. Every BASF-employee can apply for the Entry Pitch. It does not matter from which department or function.

However, during the Entry Pitch, we only allow the pitching team and the jury to participate in the session. There are no guests allowed.

Chemovator is looking for motivated people, who formed great teams and found a unique solution to a customer problem.

We only take teams and no individuals, because we believe that many different skills are required to build a business. If you have issues with finding team members, we are more than happy to match you with potential candidates. Just send us a message, then we can support you in finding suitable team members,

Your idea should be an original business idea. Not a technology pitch. Venture Teams can be formed around business proposals and ideas that are related to the chemical industry in a broader sense. This obviously includes commercialization of advanced materials or chemistry but also B2B processes in general or digital offerings relevant to our industry.

As of today, no priority areas are defined, Chemovator is open to any venture idea from technology units, operation businesses, regions and functions. In the Entry Pitch, the idea will be judged on a standalone basis, case by case.
To find out about our current portfolio, check out our Venture Teams.

You have to go through the formal application process, before you get an invite to the official Entry Pitch day.

Your solution should be innovative and new, but already have a certain level of maturity to allow quick market testing. You don't know if your idea is ready, yet? We recommend all interested teams to join the Chemovator Startup Bootcamp first. Here, you can experience what it feels like to engage with Chemovator, get to know new working methods, learn practical tools and improve your pitch.

If you are still unsure, just get in touch with us! We are happy to listen to your ideas and help you with the next steps.

You have 10 minutes to pitch your idea and convince the jury of your project - it's your choice how you do that.
We will ask you, however, to provide your presentation or any other material you want to use one week in advance, so we can get familiar with the content.

At the Entry Pitch, you present your idea to a jury consisting of Chemovator employees and our Entrepreneurs in Residence. The quality of the business proposal – presented verbally to the Chemovator jury at the Entry Pitch – will be an important element in the decision if your team will enter Chemovator.

The agenda usually looks like this:

- 10 min Pitch
- 20 min Q&A
- 25 min Jury discussion (without the team)
- 5 min Decision

If you convince the jury, you are accepted to enter our program as a Chemovator Venture Team. The jury can also invite your team to a Re-Pitch to address open questions or do some more research to facilitate a final decision. A Re-Pitch is typically scheduled one to two weeks after the Entry Pitch.

The members of the Chemovator Core Team and the Entrepreneurs in Residence select, via majority vote, which ventures will enter Chemovator. There are no BASF jury members and we do not allow visitors or guests for any Entry Pitch.

In case you get a negative answer from the jury, you will receive a detailed feedback from one of the jury members. They will tell you in person about the underlying reasons. Nevertheless, you can always take the feedback, learn from it and come back somewhen later :)

The first step after a successful Entry Pitch is a debriefing session with one of the jury members. Moreover, the Chemovator Core Team will contact you to clarify the next steps.

Generally, you start with a three month-long Validation Phase before you move over to the actual Incubation Phase.

You and your team get access to Chemovator and its resources for up to two years. During this period you will develop idea into a fundable business plan. You will test and refine your offering with market and customer feedback. The Chemovator Core Team and our Entrepreneurs in Residence will support you with guidance and coaching, office space, access to subject matter experts and many more tools to allow for a fast and targeted development of your venture.

Validation Phase: Initially you will go through a three-month long Validation Phase. Here you will define the key assumptions and risk factors of your business case and start testing these by gathering internal and external feedback. At the end of the Validation Phase you will pitch your findings and suggested next steps once more to our jury to apply to enter the Incubation Phase.

Incubation Phase: The Incubation Phase can last up to twenty-one-months and will either end in an spin-in, back into BASF, or a spin-off.

During your journey we will challenge the business idea and the team to see if things are on track, need to pivot or if major changes are needed. We know we are dealing with very early stage and high-risk ventures. It's natural that things do not play out as planned. In case we do not see the light at the end of the tunnel, ventures may also be terminated at any stage.

To us this is not a failure at all. Having tried is what counts along with the learnings that have been generated along the way.