Announcing the €15,000 AI pitch deck competition
Today we are launching the Papermark Pitch Competition: €15,000 in equity-free prizes for pre-seed and seed founders, and every deck is judged by AI.
AI reading pitch decks is one of the biggest topics in the startup world right now. But founders rarely see how a model actually scores their deck. So we are putting it to the test, in the open, with real prize money.
"Every deck gets the same AI review, no intros needed." Iuliia Shnai, co-founder of Papermark
1. How it works
- Share your deck on Papermark. Upload your pitch deck and create a link. It takes a minute on the free plan.
- Submit the link. Add your Papermark link with your company and round on the competition page. One deck per startup.
- AI picks the winners. Every deck is scored the same way, against the same criteria: problem, market, traction, team and the clarity of the ask.
No warm intros and no judges' favourites. The Papermark team does not pick favourites: AI models review every submission.
Here is each step in detail.
Step 1: Upload your deck
Log in to Papermark for free and upload your pitch deck. Papermark supports PDF, PowerPoint, Keynote and other common formats. Papermark creates a link for the document as soon as it is uploaded. See how to upload a document.
Step 2: Check your link settings
The AI has to be able to open your deck, so the link settings matter.
Fine to use:
- Require email to view. You can ask viewers for their email, and you still see every view in your analytics.
Do not use a password or other access restriction that would block access:
- Password protection. The AI cannot open a deck behind a password.
- Require email verification or Allow specified viewers. These only let in people who can prove a specific email address, which blocks the AI.
- An NDA agreement, or an Expiration date that ends before the competition closes.
If you are not sure, create a separate link just for the competition with the defaults. That also gives you its own analytics, separate from the links you send to investors. See how to create a link to a document.
Step 3: Submit the form
Open the form on the competition page and click Send your pitch in 1 min. It has four short steps:
- Your pitch deck. Paste your Papermark link (it looks like
https://www.papermark.com/view/...) and your work email. We email the results and your update link to that address. - Your company. Company name, website, a one-line description, your sector, how much you are raising and how much you have raised so far.
- About you. Your full name and role, plus LinkedIn and X if you want.
- Confirm. Choose whether to Add my startup to the public leaderboard and whether to Share my deck with relevant investors. Investors from the Papermark network can then request access, and your deck is shared only after your approval.
The form only accepts a Papermark link, and each deck link can be submitted once.
Step 4: What happens after you submit
Papermark AI opens your deck through your link and scores it on the same criteria as every other deck. You can see the visit in your page-by-page analytics. If you need to fix a slide, upload a new version in Papermark: the link stays the same, so you do not need to submit again. To change anything else on your application, click Update your application under the form and we email you a link to edit it.
2. Prizes
- €10,000, €3,000 and €2,000, equity-free, for the three highest-scoring decks
- A separate €5,000 Slush prize for founders attending Slush in Helsinki, November 18 to 19, 2026
- A separate $2,500 Vibe Your SaaS prize for founders pitching at Vibe Your SaaS in San Francisco on November 17
- Finalists get a badge for their fundraising materials
Slush and Vibe Your SaaS applicants stay in the €15,000 global competition, so a Slush founder can win up to €20,000.
3. Who can apply
Founders raising a pre-seed round (including a pre-seed angel round) or a seed round who have raised $500,000 or less so far. Any country, any sector. Teams without traction yet are welcome.
4. Coming to Slush or Vibe Your SaaS?
Slush. Apply from Papermark at Slush to compete for the €5,000 Slush prize. We announce the Slush prize and the competition winners at the Papermark Founder Breakfast in Helsinki during Slush week. Founders who apply from the Slush page get a code for 50% off any paid Papermark plan.
Vibe Your SaaS. Apply from the Vibe Your SaaS page if you pitch in San Francisco on November 17. The $2,500 prize is announced at the event.
5. Your deck stays under your control
Your link stays yours. You can ask viewers for their email and see when the AI opens your deck in your page-by-page analytics. Just do not add a password or other restriction that would block the AI from opening it.
Need to fix a slide after submitting? Upload a new version in your Papermark account. The link stays the same, so we always see the latest deck.
Your deck is only seen by the AI models and the Papermark team running the competition. If you opt in on the form, investors in the Papermark network can request access too.
6. Key dates and results
- November 10, 2026: Vibe Your SaaS submissions close
- November 17, 2026: Vibe Your SaaS pitches and prize in San Francisco
- November 18, 2026: Global and Slush submissions close
Every founder who submits hears back by email with the results, and finalists are invited to an online event. We try to give AI feedback to every founder, based on the same criteria used to score the competition.
We will also use the results to show how one AI assessment compares decks from founders at different stages, including those still developing their idea.
7. Prepare your deck
Not sure your deck is ready? Our fundraising report shows how investors read pitch decks, and you can browse real pitch deck examples. Our fundraising playbook covers what investors look for before you submit.