These terms of participation set out the eligibility conditions for applying for the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award as described in more detail below. The Award is organized by Startup Events GmbH, Rumfordstr. 15, 80469 München. By clicking on the Accept button, you agree to participate in the Award under these Award Terms with the Organizer, and agree to be bound by these Award Terms. In these Award Terms, "you" and "your" means you in your capacity as a Participant (as defined below). These Award Terms govern the administration of the Awards.

1. What is the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award?

a) With the Award, the Organizer implements a pitch competition among startups to identify and recognize the worldwide best emerging digital and technology companies in different clusters as described in more detail in these Award Terms.

b) Among all applicants that meet the eligibility criteria set out below (each a Participant), the best Participants in each cluster will be selected as the Semi Finalists of the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award. The Semi Finalists will be publicly announced in August 2022.

c) The Semi Finalists will be invited to pitch at the Bits & Pretzels festival in September 2022 in their respective cluster.

d) The top competitors of the different clusters will be selected as Cluster Winners, and these Cluster Winners will have to pitch during the grand finale on the Center Stage at the Bits & Pretzels festival on Monday, September 26 2022.

e) The Golden Pretzel Pitch Award winner will be announced following the finale on stage.

2. What are the key dates for the Pitch Competition?

- Applications for the Award can be submitted from February 22, 2022.

- Applications will only be accepted until June 5, 2022.

- In addition, we reserve the right to extend the application period.

- The Semi Finalists will be announced in August, 2022.

- The Cluster Winners will be announced right after the semi finale of the respective cluster.

- The Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner will be announced at the end of the grand finale at the Bits & Pretzels festival, September 26, 2022.

3. Who can apply to participate in the Pitch Competition?

a) To be generally eligible to participate in the pitch, applicants must meet the following requirements:

i) applicants must not be employees, officers, or directors of the Organizer or its affiliates (or work for the Organizer or its affiliates in any other capacity, including as a contractor or on a temporary basis), or be the immediate family or living in the households of any such persons,

ii) applicants must have a MVP or existing product. Applicants will have to show fulfillment of this requirement by pointing to a publicly available URL or App as part of their application to the Awards;

iii) applicants must not have exceeded Series A funding, and

b) Each applicant may only submit one application. Multiple applications from the same applicant will not be considered.

c) You acknowledge and agree that the final decision of who is eligible is not open to negotiation or dispute. There is no obligation for the Organizer to review applications that do not comply with these Award Terms, nor any obligation to justify the decision.

4. How to apply for the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award

a) Applications to participate in the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award must be submitted through the online application form. Applications must be in English.

b) All fields of the online application form must be filled out to participate in the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award, unless indicated otherwise in the form. You agree to inform us without undue delay about any changes in the information you have submitted in the online application form that occur between your application and the Award ceremony at the Bits & Pretzels festival, September 25-27, 2022.

c) By submitting the online application form, you warrant to the Organizer that you can validly represent your business for the application to the Award and that you have all internal approvals from within your business, its shareholders, any other competent supervisory body to submit the application, and/or any other party holding an interest in your business. You further warrant to the Organizer on behalf of your company that: i) you are and your business is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations both in relation to your entry into the Award and with regards to the operation of the business generally, in particular any applicable anti-bribery, import/export restrictions or embargoes,

ii) neither your company nor any of its shareholders, representatives, or employees, are party to any lawsuit or other legal proceeding concerning allegations that your company, or any of its shareholders, representatives or employees, have in connection with your company's business infringed intellectual property rights of a third party, have misappropriated any third party's trade secrets, or are in violation of a non-compete or non-solicit obligation in favor of a third party, and

iii) your company has not been threatened with any lawsuits or other legal proceedings described in the preceding clauses.

5. What are the benefits for the Semi Finalists?

From each Semi Finalist up to one delegate will be invited to join the Bits & Pretzels festival, September 25-27, 2022.

6. What is the prize for the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner?

a) The Winner will receive the famous Golden Pretzel Award.

b) Prizes are awarded to the business that is the subject of the application, and not to individuals. It is the respective Winner's responsibility to determine the representatives that shall receive a prize.

i) Feedback will not be provided on unsuccessful applications.

k) Entries will not be returned or acknowledged. The Organizer will not be responsible for any late, lost, incomplete, corrupted, damaged or otherwise illegible applications and such applications will be void.

l) The Organizer will notify the Semi Finalists by e-mail to the e-mail address submitted in the online application form.

m) The Organizer will not be liable for unsuccessful efforts to notify a Winner. If a Participant that is selected as a Semi Finalist does not respond to the notification of its selection as a Semi Finalist within 7 days, fails to abide by these Award Terms, or is ineligible, the Organizer may, in consistency with these Award Terms, select an alternate Semi Finalist from all remaining Participants or may simply withdraw the prize in question.

n) The Organizer will notify the Finalists by e-mail to the e-mail address submitted in the online form for the selected Semi Finalists.

o) If a Participant that is selected as a Finalist does not respond to the notification of its selection as a Finalist within 2 hours, or a Finalist declines a prize or fails to claim a prize in the manner specified, is unavailable for prize fulfillment, fails to abide by these Award Terms, or is ineligible, the Organizer may, in consistency with these Award Terms, select an alternate Winner from all remaining Finalists or may simply withdraw the prize in question.

7. What are the criteria for selecting the Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners and the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner?

a) All applications will be reviewed for fulfillment of the eligibility criteria set out in these Award Terms as well as for any indications that any of the warranties given in the applications may not be correct. Only applications that have passed this review will be considered in the selection process for the semi finalists and cluster winners.

b) A jury consisting of reputable individuals with in-depth knowledge and experience or staff members selected by the Organizer and including representatives of the Organizer (Jury) will apply the following criteria in selecting the Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners and the Winner of the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award, subject to the Jury's power to further detail the criteria in its own discretion as described in Section 8:

- Market

- Value Proposition

- Team

- Pitch Presentation

c) The Organizer or the Jury may require additional information from you to properly assess your application, your business or your compliance with these Award Terms. If so, you will be contacted through the contact details provided by you to request (i) an interview to discuss your application and/or (ii) that you provide further supporting documentation. If you are unable to comply with such a request within the reasonable time frame requested by us, your application may be rejected.

d) The Jury will base its selection on: the information provided in your application; other information provided by you; and any other information about you, your company and/or your company's business that is available to the general public.

e) Selection of the successful Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners & Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner will be at the Jury's absolute discretion.

8. Selection of the Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners and Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner by the Jury

a) The semi finalists and cluster winners for each category will be selected by the Jury, without recourse to any court of law.

b) If a Jury member resigns or is excluded from the selection process by the Organizer because they have not confirmed their objectivity and independence as set out in the preceding paragraph, the Organizer may either replace that jury member with another eligible candidate or leave the position vacant.

c) Prior to commencing the assessment process and selecting the Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners and Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner, the Jury will define the details and procedure of assessing the Participants at its discretion as well as the purpose and spirit of the Award as set out in the Award Terms.

9. Information submitted with your Award application and privacy policy

a) For the purposes of this clause: (i) “Confidential Information” means information that one party discloses to the other party under these Award Terms, and that is marked as confidential or would normally be considered confidential information under the circumstances. It does not include information that the recipient already knew, that becomes public through no fault of the recipient, that was independently developed by the recipient, or that was rightfully given to the recipient by a third party without confidentiality obligations; (ii) "Business Sensitive Information" means the applicant's Confidential Information which, if disclosed, would provide the applicant's competitors with a competitive advantage over the applicant; and (iii) "Highly Confidential Information" means the applicant's Confidential Information which is highly sensitive and, if disclosed, would cause substantial harm to the applicant.

b) The recipient of any Confidential Information will not disclose that Confidential Information, except to the members of the Jury and - if Jury members chose to use the help of assistants - to elected staff assisting the Jury, affiliates, employees and professional advisors who need to know it and who have agreed in writing (or in the case of professional advisors are otherwise bound) to keep it confidential. The recipient will ensure that those persons and entities: (i) use such Confidential Information only to exercise rights and fulfil obligations under these terms and conditions, and (ii) keep such Confidential Information confidential. The recipient may disclose Confidential Information when legally compelled by a court or other government authority or if required to do so by law. The recipient may also disclose Confidential Information during the course of litigation, so long as the disclosure is restricted in the same manner as is the confidential information of other litigating parties.

c) Except for the limited use rights under these terms and conditions, neither party acquires any right, title, or interest in the other party's Confidential Information.

d) Although the Organizer will take all reasonable endeavors to keep confidential any Confidential Information that you disclose to us in your application, we request that you keep any such disclosures within your application to a minimum and, in particular, that you do not disclose any Business Sensitive Information or Highly Confidential Information within your application. If, following a request for further information, you wish to disclose such information to us, you will discuss this with us and you may be required to enter into a separate non-disclosure agreement before we receive such information. You will always label such information as being "Business Sensitive" or "Highly Confidential". If you submit Business Sensitive Information or Highly Confidential Information other than in accordance with this Clause 9 d), there is no obligation for us to review the information.

e) We will process your personal data in connection with the Award in accordance with our Privacy Notice.

10. Use of the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award in communications of the Organizer and the Participants

a) If you have been selected as a Semi Finalist, Cluster Winner or the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner, you may use the name and logo of the Award for communicating your achievement. Any such use must be in compliance with all applicable laws and include a clearly visible indication of the year and cluster in which you were selected as Semi Finalist, Cluster Winner or the Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner.

b) If you use the name and logo of the Award as set out in the preceding clause, you must use them 'as is', i.e., you are not permitted to use a modified version of the name or logo of the Award. Any use of the name or logo must be in accordance with any guidance issued by the Organizer, including any updates or modifications issued from time to time.

c) If your use of the name and logo of the Award (including the continued association such use fosters in the mind of the public between you and the Organizer) negatively affects the reputation of the Organizer and/or of the Award, the Organizer may immediately prohibit you from any further use the name and logo of the Award by written notice.

d) The Organizer may use the names and logos of the Semi Finalists, Cluster Winners and Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner, as well as quotes, photos, and videos from the the Bits & Pretzels festival in any communications related to the Award.

e) The Organizer may publish details of descriptions of the Winner's business and the name of successful Participants as deemed appropriate in their absolute discretion. The Organizer will aim to inform Winners or Participants in advance of any such publication.

f) The Winners are responsible for complying with (and will procure the compliance of any shareholder, director, employee or partner with) all applicable laws in respect of receiving the prize, including (i) all applicable commercial and public anti-bribery laws and (ii) all local laws in the country in which you or any shareholder, director, employee or partner resides, is registered, is incorporated or operates, as applicable.

11. Intellectual Property Rights

a) Except as expressly provided herein, as between you and the Organizer, you retain ownership of your intellectual property rights in and to your application and any subsequent information or materials provided by you to us as part of the application process (collectively, 'Application Materials'). Any information that you provide to the Organizer will be used only in accordance with these Award Terms to the extent necessary to assess your application. By submitting your application, you grant the Organizer and their affiliates a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, and royalty-free license to use, have used, import, export and otherwise provide, transfer, deliver, or dispose of the Application Materials for the purposes of administering the Award and/or ensuring your compliance with these Award Terms. You will not (and you will procure that any of your shareholders, directors, employees or partners do not) assert, and, to the extent permitted by applicable law, you waive (and you will procure that any of your shareholders, directors, employees or partners waive), any moral rights in the Application Materials.

b) Nothing in these Award Terms grants you any rights to or interest in any intellectual property rights of the Organizer.

c) Notwithstanding Clause 11 a), you acknowledge that the Organizer, their affiliates, and its and their directors, officers, employees and contractors (including members of the jury) may independently (i) create, develop or purchase products, services, information or materials, or (ii) work on, sponsor or commission projects, related to or similar to the subject matter of your application.

d) It is important to us that all applications are made with due respect to the rights of third parties. You confirm you have obtained all necessary agreements, releases, licenses, and approvals to disclose the Application Materials to us and to grant the license at Clause 11 a) (including, for collaborative projects, from any collaborators). You confirm that submission of the Application Materials will not infringe any third party rights (including intellectual property rights) or put you in breach of any confidentiality obligations.

e) You agree to indemnify the Organizer, its affiliates, and its directors, officers, employees, contractors (including members of the Jury) and users against any liabilities, costs, claims, losses, damages or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) suffered or incurred in relation to a claim from a third party that your application or the use, reproduction or implementation of any part of your application (including any Application Materials) infringes or misappropriates any third party rights (including intellectual property rights).

f) Except for claims for breach of contract under these Award Terms, you covenant and agree that you will not (and you will procure that any collaborators and their and your affiliates do not) bring any claim, action, or proceeding in any forum against the Organizer, its affiliates, or its or their directors, officers, employees, contractors (including members of the Jury) or users, for any infringement (including inducing infringement and contributory infringement) or misappropriation of any intellectual property or proprietary rights that are related to or associated with information you provide to us (including the Application Materials) in respect of any act or omission occurring during the time period beginning on the date of submission of your application and ending (i) for the Winners, three years after their receipt of the prizes and (ii) for all other Participants, three years after submission of their application, under the laws of any jurisdiction worldwide.

12. Right to cancel or modify the Awards

a) The Organizer reserve the right in their absolute discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Award or cancel or amend the terms of the application process at any time including:

(i) if the Award is not capable of running as planned, for example because of tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, printing errors, cancellation of the the Bits & Pretzels festival or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Award; and (ii) in the event of circumstances beyond the Organizer's reasonable control.

13. Exclusion from the Awards

a) In case any information submitted as part of the application process or in an update according to Clause 4 b) is not correct, the Organizer may exclude your company from further participation in the Award. The same applies if any of the warranties given under Clause 4 c) is not fulfilled or are breached by you. The Organizer also reserve the right in their absolute discretion to disqualify any applicant: (i) who tampers with the application process or any other part of the Awards or the website available under www.bitsandpretzels.com, (ii) who submits harmful material (including any virus or malicious code) to the Award e-mail alias, or (iii) whose conduct is contrary to the spirit of these Award Terms or the intention of the Award.

b) If the Organizer become aware after the Award ceremony at Bits & Pretzels festival in September 2022 that any of the information or warranties mentioned in the preceding paragraph that was material for the selection of a specific Semi Finalist, Cluster Winners or Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner was materially incorrect at the time of the Jury's decision, the Organizer may retroactively exclude the relevant Semi Finalist, Cluster Winner or Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner from the Award. Any and all rights of the relevant (former) Semi Finalist, Cluster Winner or Golden Pretzel Pitch Award Winner to use the Awards in communications under Clauses 10 a) and b) shall cease immediately.

c) The Organizer reserves the right to claim their actual damages incurred due to any misinformation in the event that you are excluded from the Award under Clauses 13 a) and b).

14. Limitation of Organisers' liability

a) In case of intent (Vorsatz) or gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit) on the part of the Organizer or by the Organizer's agents in performance of this agreement (Erfüllungsgehilfen), the Organizer is liable pursuant to statutory law. The same applies in case of breach of fundamental obligations (wesentliche Vertragspflichten) of the Organizer under these Award Terms. However, to the extent any breach of fundamental obligations is not intentional (vorsätzlich), the Organizer's liability for damages shall be limited to the typically predictable damage.

b) The Organizer's liability for culpable (schuldhaft) damage to life, body or health shall remain unaffected.

c) To the extent any liability of the Organizers for ordinary negligence (einfache Fahrlässigkeit) is not excluded by Clauses 14 a) and 14 b), the Organizer's liability shall be limited to the aggregate amount of EUR 5,000.

d) Any liability of the Organizers not expressly provided for in Clauses 14 a) through 14 c) is hereby excluded.

15. General terms.

a) These Award Terms shall not grant any rights to, and are not intended to operate for, the benefit of any third parties.

b) The Organizer will not be liable for failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by circumstances beyond their reasonable control.

c) The Organizer will not be treated as having waived any rights by not exercising (or delaying the exercise of) any rights under these Award Terms.

d) These Award Terms do not create any agency, partnership or joint venture between the parties.

e) These Award Terms set out all terms agreed between the parties and supersede all other agreements between the parties relating to the subject matter of these Award Terms.

f) To the extent that there is any inconsistency between information on the Awards website available under www.bitsandpretzels.com/festival/awards or any other source of information, these Award Terms shall apply.

g) If these Award Terms are translated into any other language, and there is a discrepancy between the English text and the text of the other language, the English text will prevail.

h) These Award Terms shall be governed by, and be construed in accordance with, the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to principles of conflicts of laws.

i) To the extent legally permissible, the Regional Court of Munich, Germany shall be exclusively competent for all disputes and claims arising out of these Award Terms, or relating to the breach or invalidity thereof.

If any term (or part of a term) of these Award Terms is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the rest of these terms will remain in effect.