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1.1 The 100 Open Startups Ranking is an annual publication used by major institutions and leading investors as a reference to track the most attractive startups and scaleups for the corporate market. It also highlights corporations, ecosystem players, investors, and executives with significant interactions with startups.
1.2 The publication is conducted by 100 Open Startups, based on the updated data recorded in its platform and related to the period defined in this regulation.
1.3 Startups, scaleups, corporations (medium and large enterprises), ecosystem players, and investors registered in the 100 Open Startups system may be featured in the 100 Open Startups Ranking, provided they meet the eligibility criteria outlined in this Regulation.
1.4 Being listed as a startup, scaleup, corporation, ecosystem player, investor, or executive in the 100 Open Startups Ranking is a recognition and a differentiator in the innovation ecosystem, providing increased visibility and potential business opportunities. The Ranking does not necessarily imply the right to any prizes from 100 Open Startups.
1.5 Startups, scaleups, and corporations that register or confirm their contracts on the platform to participate in the 100 Open Startups Ranking 2024 agree, from now on, with these Regulations, as well as ecosystem players and investors who register or confirm their relationships.
2.1 Startups, scaleups, corporations, ecosystem players, and investors may participate in the Ranking according to the criteria outlined below.
2.1.1 Startups meeting the following criteria:
i. Be a startup registered with 100 Open Startups in compliance with the program's regulations.
ii. Have closed contracts with corporations, active at any time from July/2023 to June/2024.
iii. Not be controlled by a corporation (a company with more than 100 employees or USD 20 million in annual revenue) but rather by entrepreneurs leading the business.
iv. Complete the data form for candidate startups.
v. Register and/or validate relationship data with corporations.
vi. For the TOP 100 Open Startups, TOP Categories, and Special Categories awards, the startup must not have annual revenue exceeding USD 2.5 million in 2023, nor have received investment exceeding USD 2.5 million until December 31, 2023.
2.1.2 Scaleups meeting the following criteria:
i. Be a scaleup registered with 100 Open Startups in compliance with the program's regulations.
iii. Complete the data form for candidate startups and scaleups.
iv. Register and/or validate relationship data with corporations.
v. To qualify for the TOP Open Scaleups award, the scaleup must:
a) Have revenue exceeding USD 2.5 million in 2023; or have received investment exceeding USD 2.5 million until December 31, 2023; or be controlled by a corporation (a company with more than 100 employees or USD 20 million in annual revenue); or have 100 or more corporate clients; and
b) Have revenue less than USD 20 million in 2023. If revenue exceeds this amount, the company must compete as a Corporation.
2.1.3 Corporations meeting the following criteria:
i. Have more than 100 employees or have revenue exceeding USD 20 million in the fiscal year 2023.
ii. Have closed contracts with startups, active at any time from July/2023 to June/2024.
iii. Register and/or validate relationship data with startups or scaleups.
2.1.4 Venture Capital Managers meeting the following criteria:
i. Invested, at any date, until June 2024, in startups or scaleups eligible for the Ranking.
ii. Registered and/or validated investment data in startups or scaleups.
2.1.5 Investors meeting the following criteria:
2.1.6 Ecosystem Players meeting the following criteria:
i. Supported, at any date, until June 2024, startups, scaleups, or corporations eligible for the Ranking.
ii. Registered and/or validated relationship data with startups, scaleups, or corporations.
2.1.7 Corporate Executives meeting the following criteria:
i. Have closed contracts with startups, active at any time from July/2023 to June/2024.
ii. Register and/or validate relationship data with startups or scaleups.
iii. Agree to have their name highlighted in the TOP Executives category of the 100 Open Startups Ranking.
2.2 Startups and scaleups that have already been awarded in at least 3 (three) editions and whose scores and number of contracts drop by more than 10% from one edition to the next of the Ranking will not be awarded again in this edition in the same category (Open Startup or Open Scaleup). This criterion aims to provide visibility to early-stage startups that have not yet been highlighted in the Ranking 100 Open Startups, fulfilling one of its main purposes of showcasing these emerging new solutions to the innovation ecosystem. In the event of disqualification under this criterion in this edition, the startup may be eligible for an award in the following edition if it meets the eligibility criteria according to the regulations of the next edition.
2.3 For eligibility and/or contract scoring purposes, the suggested exchange rate for converting contract values and/or revenue from Brazilian Reais to US Dollars is BRL 5.00 to USD 1.00. If the currency exchange rate at the time of the contract/investment/revenue differs from the suggested rate, participants can choose the most favorable rate.
3.1.1 The scoring for the 100 Open Startups Ranking is calculated based on relationships registered on the 100 Open Startups platform through the Ranking form.
3.1.2 To score points in the Ranking, 15 (fifteen) types of relationships are considered, divided into 4 (four) major groups, with equivalent scores of 1 (one), 5 (five), or 10 (ten) points, as detailed below:
i. Group A (Positioning) – 1 (one) point: 1. Training and mentorship; 2. Recognition and awards; 3. Coworking spaces; 4. Service and technology vouchers.
ii. Group B (Platform and Partnerships) – 5 (five) points: 5. Licensing of corporate Intellectual Property (IP); 6. Access to non-financial resources; 7. Access to the employee base; 8. Access to the customer base and sales channels; 9. Acceleration program.
iii. Group C (Supplier Development) – 10 (ten) points: 10. Resources for R&D and prototyping; 11. Licensing of startup Intellectual Property (IP); 12. Hiring for a pilot project; 13. Supply of innovative service or product.
iv. Group D (Investment) – 20 (twenty) points: 14. Investment with minority equity participation above USD 200,000; 15. Acquisition and value incorporation above USD 200,000.
3.1.2.1 Contracts of the "Matchmaking and Connections" type will not be worth points for startups, scaleups, and corporations but will be counted as 1 (one) point for the Executive Ranking.
3.1.2.2 Non-formalized contracts will not be worth points for the 2024 Ranking.
3.1.3 If desired, the startup, scaleup, or corporation can provide the contract value range to earn extra points. Contracts with pecuniary value for the startup above USD 200,000 (two hundred thousand dollars) are worth 20 (twenty) points, regardless of the category.
3.1.4 For corporate scoring, only the best open innovation relationship with each startup or scaleup will be considered for the Ranking.
3.1.5 For startup and scaleup scoring, only the best open innovation relationship with each corporation will be considered for the Ranking.
3.1.6 The 100 Open Startups may, at any time, in case of doubt about the contract's classification, request more information and/or proof of the relationship through other means. Failure to provide information will result in contract disqualification.
3.2.1 Scoring is calculated according to the information provided through the Ranking form on the 100 Open Startups platform.
3.2.2 Users (startups, scaleups, corporations, ecosystem players, and investors) are responsible for reporting when a relationship is established.
3.3.1 All data used in the 100 Open Startups Ranking comes from information registered by startups, scaleups, corporate executives, ecosystem players, or investors.
3.3.2 When information eligible for scoring in the Ranking is added to the digital platform, the designated contact person will receive a link to their registered email to validate the information declared by the other party.
3.3.3 The validation process follows these rules:
i. For startup and scaleup scoring in the Ranking, contract information provided by the startup must be validated by a contact person in the corporation.
ii. For corporate scoring in the Ranking, contract information provided by the corporation must be validated by a contact person in the startup or scaleup.
iii. For ecosystem player scoring, declared relationships must be validated by the indicated startups, scaleups, or corporations.
iv. For investor scoring, declared investments must be validated by the invested startups or scaleups.
v. All provided and validated information is audited by the 100 Open Startups team. The audit process verifies whether the information aligns with the definitions used in the Ranking methodology.
vi. Corporate employees are validated by the verified corporate email domain, according to the 100 Open Startups program's large corporate database. New corporations added to the database are reviewed and approved by the 100 Open Startups team.
vii. Corporations participating in the Ranking can request to compete as an economic group, and such grouping must be requested to the 100 Open Startups support team for evaluation. Grouping can also be done at the initiative of the 100 Open Startups audit team after analyzing the case.
viii. In the case of the same company using different email domains, it can also request the unification of domains on the platform, provided the request is made in writing by the company or analyzed by the 100 Open Startups audit team.
ix. Business units and subsidiaries using the same email domains as the parent company are considered, for Ranking purposes, as a single company. If subsidiaries are legally distinct entities using the parent company's email domain and wish to have separate registrations on the platform, the separation must be requested from the 100 Open Startups support team with the list of users who should be part of the subsidiary.
3.4.1 When registering contracts, startups can select up to 4 (four) categories that best identify them from those offered in the form, in order of preference, to compete for the TOP Categories rankings.
3.4.2 The startup must select at least 1 (one) category. If it considers that it does not fit into any of the available categories, it should select "New Trends" and specify the term that best categorizes the startup's category.
3.4.3 Each startup can only be awarded in a single TOP Category award, and the award will respect the order of preference: if the startup is not awarded as TOP 10 in its first selected option, it will automatically compete in the second option, and so on.
3.4.4 Only categories with the highest score density will be awarded. Therefore, 100 Open Startups does not guarantee that the category(ies) chosen by the startup will be awarded as TOP Categories.
3.4.5 If none of the startup's chosen categories is awarded, or if it does not have a sufficient score to be in the TOP 10 of any of the chosen categories, it continues to compete normally for the general TOP 100.
3.4.6 To ensure the consistency and representativeness of the 100 Open Startups Ranking in various categories, after data consolidation, the 100 Open Startups audit team reserves the right to change the startup's category(ies) without prior notice, as well as create new categories and/or subdivide them.
3.5.1 In addition to the TOP 100 open startups and open scaleups and the TOP Categories of open startups, the 2024 edition of the Ranking will also include the following awards:
i. TOP Open Corps: Corporations leading in open innovation with startups.
ii. TOP Categories Open Corps: Leading corporations in open innovation with startups by industry sectors.
iii. TOP Open Corps Middle-Market: Corporations leading in open innovation with startups and with annual revenue in 2023 of up to USD 200 million.
iv. TOP Ecosystem: Ecosystem players recognized by startups, scaleups, and awarded corporations for supporting them in their journey.
v. TOP Investors: Venture capital organizations and angel investors recognized by startups for their investment.
vi. TOP Open Cities: Cities with the highest density of startups engaged in open innovation with corporations.
vii. TOP Executives: Corporate executives engaging most in open innovation with startups, according to the scores of validated contracts for which they are responsible.
3.5.2 For the TOP Investors category, the score is equal to the number of awarded startups that have declared or confirmed investment from the investor. For example, if Investor A invested in 5 awarded startups and Investor B invested in 8, the TOP Investor Ranking would be: 1st) Investor B, with 8 points; 2nd) Investor A, with 5 points.
3.5.3 For the TOP Ecosystem category, the score is equal to the number of startups and corporations awarded that have declared or confirmed support from the ecosystem player. For example, if Ecosystem Player A had confirmed relationships with 4 corporations and 2 awarded startups, and Ecosystem Player B had confirmed relationships with 7 awarded startups, the TOP Ecosystem Ranking would be: 1st) Player B, with 7 points; 2nd) Player A, with 6 points.
3.5.4 The TOP Open Corps Ranking may be divided into different listings by size and type of corporation, depending on the score density of each group. For 2024, the TOP Open Corps Middle Market award is planned for corporations with annual revenue in 2023 of up to USD 200 million.
3.5.5 To define the categories of the TOP Categories Open Corps, the corporation's main industry sector, as registered on the platform, will be considered. The main industry sector is initially defined by the audit team and can be modified by the operational contact person of the company in the Ranking during the completion of the registration form. For new companies not registered in the database, the first user can, upon registration, indicate the sector they consider most appropriate.
3.5.5.1 The award categories of the TOP Categories Open Corps will be defined by grouping sectors, according to the Ranking score density. Only categories with the highest score density will be awarded. Therefore, 100 Open Startups does not guarantee that the sector chosen by the corporation will be awarded as TOP Category.
3.5.5.2 To ensure the consistency and representativeness of the 100 Open Startups Ranking in various sectors, after data consolidation, the 100 Open Startups audit team reserves the right to change the sector and/or category of the company without prior notice, as well as create new sectors and categories and/or subdivide them.
3.6.1 The 2024 edition of the Ranking will have extra special recognitions for startups, applicable to startups awarded in the TOP Categories and/or TOP 100 that meet the criteria of these categories, as described in section 3.6.4 of this regulation.
3.6.2 Startups wishing to compete in one or more of these categories must actively apply when registering their profiles and fill in the justification field for fitting into the category.
3.6.3 Eligibility is not guaranteed and is subject to review by the 100 Open Startups audit team, which, based on the justification provided by the startup, will assess its fit within the category criteria.
3.6.4 The special categories and their eligibility criteria are:
i. TOP Sustainability and Environment - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, in its core business, products or solutions that contribute to the environmental sustainability of Brazil.
ii. TOP Social Impact - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, in its core business, products or solutions that generate positive and direct social impact in Brazil.
iii. TOP Corporate Governance - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, in its core business, products or solutions related to corporate governance.
iv. TOP Accessibility and Inclusion - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, in its core business, products or solutions that are directly aimed at accessibility and/or inclusion of people with disabilities.
v. TOP Women Entrepreneurship - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, among its co-founders, at least one woman who holds an executive role in the startup and has a minimum 10% equity participation.
vi. TOP LGBTQIAPN+ Entrepreneurship - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, among its co-founders, at least one LGBTQIAPN+ person who holds an executive role in the startup and has a minimum 10% equity participation.
vii. TOP Black Entrepreneurship - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, among its co-founders, at least one entrepreneur who self-identifies as black or brown, holds an executive role in the startup, and has a minimum 10% equity participation.
viii. TOP Senior Entrepreneurship - Eligibility Criterion: The startup must have, among its co-founders, at least one entrepreneur aged 50 or older during the Ranking period, holds an executive role in the startup, and has a minimum 10% equity participation.
3.6.5 The special categories may or may not be published, as well as be grouped or change names, at the discretion of 100 Open Startups and the organizations partnering with the 100 Open Startups Ranking.
3.7 Participants in the TOP Open Corps can indicate one (or more) operational contact person - who will have access to all company contracts and the editing of basic company information on the platform - and a representative contact person, who will be the focal point to represent the company to 100 Open Startups.
3.8 The 100 Open Startups Ranking is open to startups and corporations outside of Brazil. The specific awards and rankings for other countries and/or regions are defined according to the startup's / scaleup's country of origin or the country of contract execution.
3.9 Not all awards outlined in this regulation will be published in all participating countries and regions. 100 Open Startups may, at any time - based on the density of startups, corporations, investors, ecosystem players, and registered relationships - change, add, or remove any award categories outlined or not outlined in this regulation, in any of the participating countries and regions.
4.1 For the startup, scaleup, and corporation categories, contracts that were active at any time during the period from 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024 will be considered.
4.1.1 Active contracts that were declared and validated more than one year before the start of the validity period defined for the 2024 edition, as described in item 4.1 - that is, declared before 07/01/2022 - will be considered expired. These contracts must be declared and validated again to be considered for the 2024 Ranking.
4.1.2 The recommended deadline for contract registration is 06/15/2024, so they can be part of the entire contract validation campaign period for the Ranking.
4.1.3Only contracts declared by 06/30/2024 will have the right to request a reconsideration of the 2024 Ranking audit result.
4.1.4The final deadline for contract validation to be considered in the 2024 Ranking is 11:59 PM UTC on 07/15/2024.
4.1.5The audit results of the Ranking contracts will be disclosed on the platform itself by 07/30/2024.
4.1.5.1For contracts validated in advance, preliminary audit results may be published, which may have their reconsideration requests submitted in advance. The audit result may have changes compared to the preliminary audit as some consistency checks are only performed after the final validation deadline.
4.1.6After the audit results are published, participants will have until 08/05/2024 to request a reconsideration of the audit trial result.
4.1.7After the reevaluation of contracts with reconsideration requests, the final audit will be published on 08/12/2024.
4.1.8Any changes to the deadlines for finalizing registrations, validations, campaigns, audits, and reconsideration requests will be disclosed through official communications from the Ranking and published on the official website - https://100os.net/ranking.
4.2 For the ecosystem player and investor categories, relationships/investments occurring at any time until June 2024 will be considered.
4.2.1 The same deadlines from clauses 4.1.2 to 4.1.7 apply to relationships involving ecosystem players and investors.
5.1 Information about contracts submitted for participation in the 100 Open Startups Ranking is private and will only be shared with the declared contact point for validation and the 100 Open Startups audit team.
5.2 Consolidated data may be used by 100 Open Startups or partner research institutions for research and surveys on open innovation practices and the innovation ecosystem in general, ensuring the confidentiality of individual information in registered relationships.
5.3 Only the official ranking and consolidated data, by sector, category, geography, etc., will be disclosed in publications related to the 100 Open Startups Ranking, press releases, and partners, without identifying specific relationships between startups and companies unless there is an intention and acceptance of both parties involved to disclose the relationship as an open innovation case.
5.4 The Ranking is a market activity mapping, based on declared and confirmed data between institutions. In cases where a company or institution does not want to be mentioned in the Ranking award, it must send formal communication from a legal representative of the organization to the email legal@openstartups.net requesting removal. The removal will only be made from future editions of the Ranking that have not been published. Current and already published editions will not be updated.
5.4.1 In case of a formal request from the company or institution not to be mentioned in the 100 Open Startups Ranking award, 100 Open Startups reserves the right to veto the participation of users with the company or institution's corporate email on the platform, as well as in events and products offered by 100 Open Startups.
5.5 Corporations can choose which brand and logo they want to appear on the Ranking by filling out the official form sent to the winning corporations after the Ranking is closed.
5.5.1 Corporations that do not respond to the official form will be awarded with the name and logo registered in the 100 Open Startups system.
5.6 Participation in the 100 Open Startups Ranking is free and does not imply any registration fee of any kind.
5.7 Awarded companies, startups, organizations, and cities will have the opportunity to join the Official Announcement and Award Gala Night of the 100 Open Startups Ranking (an event held to celebrate, gather, and give visibility to the winners of the year), as well as acquire the physical trophy of the award.
5.7.1 Both participation in the Gala Night and the acquisition of the physical trophy are optional extra benefits, incurring costs and not affecting the final Ranking result.
5.8 This regulation may be changed at any time, without prior notice, at the sole and exclusive discretion of 100 Open Startups.
Last update: 02/08/2024