FCMB introduces EPIC Pitch, plans to give close to a million naira to startups

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is calling for applications for the maiden edition of its monthly pitch event called EPIC Pitch.

The newly-launched EPIC Pitch is organised in partnership with Passion Incubator. Epic Pitch is aimed at providing up-and-coming techpreneurs with an opportunity to pitch to investors, mentors, potential partners, and other stakeholders in the techosystem to receive insightful feedback and grant.

Application for the maiden edition closes on March 23, 2020. Startups with fintech, healthtech, edtech, agritech, and other innovative solutions are eligible to apply for EPIC Pitch.

Out of the many applications, five startups would be selected to pitch to a panel of judges comprising of top players in the techosystem on March 27, 2020, at Hub One.

The startup adjudged winner would go home with $300 (₦109,500) grant. The winning startup would also have access to mentorship, business registration and advisory service, potential corporate partnership, and all tech events sponsored by FCMB.

By the end of this year, seven startups would have received a total of $2,100 (₦766,500), according to FCMB.

EPIC Pitch is our way of supporting early-stage startups by providing candid and valuable feedback about the products they've developed, and to constructively critique their pitching skills. EPIC Pitch would also serve as a platform for connecting and exposing startups to early-stage investors.

The initiative, EPIC Pitch, is in tandem with the monthly knowledge-sharing session—Happy Hour—launched by Hub One in February 2019; it was later renamed to EPIC Hour in May 2019.

You can register to attend the maiden edition of the EPIC Pitch here.

EPIC Hour was launched one month after FCMB, in partnership with Leadspace, opened the tech-themed co-working space—Hub One—in Yaba.

EPIC Hour is a monthly interactive session that brings together successful entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, budding techpreneurs and other stakeholders in the techosystem to address challenges in the ecosystem and highlight hacks that would enhance innovation and growth.

Previous editions of EPIC Hour have hosted the likes of Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack; Segun Adeyemi, former CEO of Amplify and country manager of JUMO; and Chinedu Azodoh, co-founder of MAX.

Similarly, within the first year of its launch, Hub One was filled to capacity—housing startups operating in different sectors, including Utiva, Smart Teller, ScholarX (before they moved to their own office), MyyCrib, and Natterbase.