The EF Hult Prize grant is a milestone-based fund designed to help winning teams turn their business ideas or products into reality.
Grant payments are linked to milestones agreed with and approved by the EF Hult Prize Foundation. These may include demonstrating a compelling and sustainable business model and, where relevant, positive cash flow. Milestones will be reviewed regularly and may be updated with the Foundation’s written approval.
To support responsible use of the prize funding, the Foundation may withhold or end funding if agreed milestones are not met or for other reasons at its discretion.
As a condition of receiving the USD 1 million prize, the Foundation may also ask the winning team or its company to issue a warrant to the Foundation or its designee. The warrant will have a nominal exercise price and may be exercised once the full prize amount has been paid.
The onboarding process
Each winning team will only be able to request funds via the invoice system and fulfil all the required submissions.
- Officially accept/reject the prize fund with equity.
- Add to EF Hult Prize portfolio Slack workspace & Google Drive.
- Prepare required documents: company registrations with relevant papers, company bank account, founders agreement, co-founder passport copies, funding proposal finalised, and an updated Due-Diligence (DD) checklist, if need be.
- Submit your first preliminary request of funds of 10,000 USD
- Agree on the funding milestones plan and get it approved
- Sign your grant agreement
Requesting for funds
Requesting for funds
Each winning team will only be able to request funds via the invoice system and fulfil all the required submissions.
How long does it take?
We highly suggest you plan and fill out the milestones reporting form at least one month ahead before sending the invoice, as back-and-forth edits are very common. The invoice payment will take approx. 15-30 working days (after we have received the correct submission via email) for EF Hult Prize to process and execute the invoice internally before payment execution.
If the payment has been delayed for more than 15-30 working days after you officially submit it via email, you can follow up with the portfolio team via your startup Slack channel. We’ll check the payment status and progress for you.
Here's a step-by-step on how to create your invoice:
Step 1
Fill out the milestones reporting form in advance before you request the next tranche of funds. The portfolio team will review your response once you have informed them.
Step 3
Fill out your information correctly:
- Company logo
- Company name
- Address
- Contact
- Company email
- A representative email for contact
- Invoice No. (Make sure that this number is different for every invoice. Eg: 001, 002, 003)
- Invoice date
- Detailed description - breakdown of expenditures
- Unit number
- Cost per unit in USD (only)
- Amount in USD (only)
- Invoice subtotal in USD (only)
- Total amount in USD (only)
- Bank name
- Branch address
- Account holder (company bank account)
- Account number (company bank account)
- Wire transfer number: if applicable (if not, delete)
- Bank code (SWIFT/BIC): If applicable (if not, delete)
- Routing number (ACH or ABA): if applicable (if not, delete)
- Check with your local bank if additional bank details from your local bank that we need to execute international transactions if we have not covered above. If have you must add.
- Do NOT change the “Bill To:” info
- Hult International Business School AG
- CH263.1689.UPCO.SWW.PWW.CMKMHG3.0.0.0
- Selnaustrasse 30, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland
Step 4
It is important to make sure you create an invoice using the correct format and details to avoid lengthy review procedures, transaction delays and payment bounces.
Find out what to include in the invoice PDF?
Step 5
Review the invoice & updated business proposal with your portfolio coordinator for a final check
- Upload and hyperlink the invoice to your invoice & due diligence checklist in your startup Google folder. Inform the portfolio team via Slack for review and we hope to get back to you within 2-4 working days.
- Once given green light to submit for processing, proceed to the next step.
Step 6
Official Invoice submission
- Send an official email to portfolio@hultprize.org, CC Narisa only.
Do not CC Lori or Hamdi - Attach the following document submissions every time you request funds:
- The complete PDF version of the invoice with bank details attached, and with milestones breakdown. See the section below.
- Updated business proposal
- Signed & updated disbursement request form (Schedule 2 & 3) - Only for 2021 Winners
Remark:
- Transaction delays may occur after the payment execution. Please follow up with your local bank.
- EF Hult Prize financially covers the transaction fee from our side. If you have been charged, that is under the receiving bank.
Also see EF Hult Prize invoice guidelines.
Overview of post-investment
- Run the business. Track milestones and performance.
- Plan for the next request of funds at least a month in advance.
- Fill out the Milestones Reporting Form (self-assessment) in advance before you request the next tranche of funds. The portfolio team will review your response once you have informed them. Next, you will go through a due diligence process.
- Prepare the required legal documents and updated business proposal.
- Draft your invoice with correct and clear details. You may share the link via Slack for review. The EF Hult Prize portfolio team will review within 4-7 working days, check, suggest edits & recommend officially submitting
- Once approved, submit the invoice, and signed disbursement request form with your updated business proposal plan to portfolio@hultprize.org, CC your portfolio coordinator.
- Notify the EF Hult Prize portfolio team when you receive the funds.
Due diligence
Post-win Due Diligence
Startups are required to pass due diligence conducted by the EF Hult Prize Foundation (which you are already familiar with from the accelerator program) by providing evidence of all milestones/claims made with the previous invoice and the upcoming invoice during the entirety of the post-investment period upon request.
Please free to create the pdf of combined evidence or have the files individually uploaded to your startup folder on Google Drive. Once completed, let us know via slack.
- Evidence/proof we would expect to see, but are not limited to, receipts/agreements/invoices/orders/bills/paper/accounting/bank statements.
- Please provide the documents requested soon to make sure the invoices are paid on time according to your plan and to avoid delays. It will again take some time for us to review your documents and get back to you within 2-4 days. However, if many startups are going through the process at once then please do anticipate potential delays.
- Once due diligence is complete, then you may go through the same process to prep the signed papers and send invoices.
Final Assessment Phase
By the end of the EF Hult Prize grant, the EF Hult Prize portfolio team will conduct a final assessment with you to assess your overall performance after receiving the full fund. Please write a performance report based on the milestones you have proposed in your revised business proposal. This is a holistic report that will detail your company's achievements, impact evaluation, financial performance, and challenges.
- Please find the reporting guide here to help you write your performance report below and use your seed capital proposal as information to base.
Please note:
Annual Pay Freeze: Every year, when the Education First (EF)’s financial year closing is approaching, there will be a payment freeze from September to early October and this means that invoices may not be paid during the period and until the end of October. Feel free to prepare and send them for review as usual.