presented by ZenBusiness

SXSW Pitch

March 11–12, 2023

SXSW Pitch showcases innovative new technology to a panel of industry experts, high-profile media professionals, venture capital investors, and angel investors.



2023 Winners


SXSW Pitch 2022 – Photo by Lauren Hartmann

SXSW Pitch 2022 – Photo by Lauren Hartmann

About SXSW Pitch

 

The 15th annual SXSW Pitch presented by ZenBusiness and supported by Collins Aerospace and Invest Puerto Rico will take place at the Hilton Austin Downtown on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12. A live audience, as well as a panel of expert judges, will discover advancements in various sectors of emerging technology. The best part – product demonstrations by the most ambitious talents in the world with the creative new ideas to change it. Catch a glimpse of the industry’s future, with a guided tour by our emcees and judges.

2023 SXSW Pitch will feature 40 Interactive technology companies from eight different categories: Artificial Intelligence, Voice, & Robotics; Enterprise & Smart Data; Entertainment, Media & Content; Food, Nutrition, & Health; Future of Work; Innovative World Technologies; Metaverse & Web3; and Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability.

These companies will dazzle a live audience with their company pitch and Q&A with our panel of Judges. We will feature 20 companies on Saturday, March 11 and 20 companies on Sunday, March 12. On Sunday, March 12 at 6:30pm we will host the SXSW Pitch Award Ceremony and announce a winner from each category.

SXSW Pitch presented by ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness is the one-stop digital platform to help anybody launch, run, and grow a business. As a Public Benefit Corporation, we’re committed to unleashing the entrepreneur in everybody so they can create meaningful work. Our tools make it easy to form your business, build your website, manage your money, and attract customers. From paperwork and finances to marketing and taxes, we guide you to success. It’s why Forbes calls us the “best” in the business.

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For SXSW Pitch inquiries, please contact michelle@sxsw.com and send press inquiries to conferencepress@sxsw.com.

See You in 2024

Get ready to experience more opportunities for discovery, networking, learning, and career-enhancing connections than ever before at SXSW 2024 from March 8-16. Stay tuned for announcements coming later this summer.

Subscribe to Event Updates and the Conference Community Newsletter to stay in the SX know.

2023 Winners

 

2023 Winners By Category

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice: Reality Defender (New York, NY)

Enterprise & Smart Data: Climatiq (Berlin, Germany)

Entertainment, Media & Content: PentoPix (London, UK)

Food, Nutrition & Health: General Prognostics GPx (Boston, MA)

Future of Work: Reach Pathways (Chicago, IL)

Innovative World Technologies: SXD Ai (New York, NY)

Metaverse & Web3: Numbers Protocol (Taipei, Taiwan)

Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics: Urban Machine (Oakland, CA)

2023 Special Award Winners

"Best In Show" | Entertainment, Media & Content: PentoPix (London, UK)

"Best Boostrap Company" | AMA — Environmental Agents

“Best Speed Pitch” | LeadrPro

“Best In DEI” | CreditRich

2023 SXSW Pitch Schedule

Saturday, March 11


Hilton Hotel (4th Floor - Salon DE)

10:00am - 11:00am
Food, Nutrition, & Health

11:30am - 12:30pm
Artificial Intelligence, Voice, & Robotics

2:30pm - 3:30pm
Entertainment, Media & Content

4:00pm - 5:00pm
Metaverse & Web3

Sunday, March 12


Hilton Hotel (4th Floor - Salon DE)

10:00am - 11:00am
Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability

11:30am - 12:30pm
Innovative World Technologies

2:30pm - 3:30pm
Enterprise & Smart Data

4:00pm - 5:00pm
Future of Work

Hilton Hotel (6th Floor - Salon HE)

6:00pm - 7:30pm
SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony

Monday, March 13


Hilton Hotel (4th Floor - Salon D)

10:00am - 12:00pm
SXSW Pitch Showcase

2023 SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony

 

Sunday, March 12 - 6PM

Hilton Hotel (6th Floor - Salon H)

Meet the world’s top startups that have emerged as the best of the best at 2023 SXSW Pitch.

On Sunday after all the pitches have been completed and scores are tallied, we host the SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony.

The evening begins at 6pm and is open to all 2023 Platinum and Interactive Badges. The agenda will include a One-Minute Speed Pitch from our SXSW Pitch category Alternates that won their category during the two-day event. You will follow up with a review of the two-day competition before we present our awards to the category winners as well as "Best Bootstrap Company," "Best One-Minute Speed Pitch,", “Best DEI”, and "Best in Show."

Co-Emcee

Maria TranquilliMaria Tranquilli
Maria is the Director of the Defense Ventures portfolio at Shift, on a mission to supercharge the defense-industrial partnership that underpins America’s national security and economic vitality. Prior to her appointment to this role, Maria spent six years as NASDAQ's Head of Global Programs and Founder Community.

Zach BrandonZach Brandon
Zach is the President of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. He is a mechanic of anything that rolls forward (or risks rolling back) as well as a 3x startup founder, elected official, Angel Capital policy leader, and ecosystem builder.

Pitch Your Startup at SXSW 2023

Take a peek at what's in store for 2023 and apply to join the ranks of SXSW Pitch alumni with over 82% receiving funding and acquisitions in excess of $14.5 billion.

2023 Categories

 

Artificial Intelligence, Voice, & Robotics

Technologies related to machine-simulated intelligence, consciousness, empathy, or speech. These technologies may also cover Internet of Things and smart devices, or a machine's ability to perform, anticipate, and streamline tasks without human assistance. These startups seek to address a wide variety of issues.

Enterprise & Smart Data

Technologies that increase productivity for businesses and/or individuals by simplifying informational data through new workflows and analytics. These startups may have applications in data collection, management, analysis, presentation, interpretation, security, and augmentation across industries such as business, finance, advertising, and more.

Entertainment, Media & Content

Technologies and applications that are re-inventing the experience of leisure, information and entertainment. Industries these technologies address may include gaming, music, film, television, video, arts, news and publishing, streaming, and digital storytelling.

Food, Nutrition, & Health

Technologies focused on human-centric applications that advance nutrition and connect individuals with health systems and facilities, care teams, providers, insurance, corporate and personal wellness services, and public health & social services. These startups may also include applications in food and CPG, aging and geriatrics, general wellness, diagnosis, treatment, fertility, genetics, exercise, home fitness, nutrition, sleep, sports, cannabis, and medical wearable technologies.

Future of Work

Technologies that enable, empower, change, and expand capabilities in the future of work and the working experience. These technologies may find applications in the gig economy, remote working and connectivity, business communications, project management, workforce incentives and benefits, payments, manufacturing, human resources, education and skills training, recruiting, and others.

Innovative World Technologies

This category is for any creative and innovative application, product, or service that does not fit in another SXSW Pitch category, as well as technologies that act as the infrastructure that new technologies are built on. Examples that might fit into this category include (but are not limited to) societal good, social networking, payment and fintech, space and Aerospace, biotechnology and nanotechnology, agriculture and natural resources, pet tech, drones, home refinancing, quantum computing and computer chip technology, energy, and others.

Metaverse & Web3

Technologies that enhance the way people connect, communicate, and share unique life experiences with those around them in a digital ecosystem, including but not limited to the Metaverse and Web3 integration. Startups within this category aim to better immerse consumers within their digital experiences through augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), multi-sensory incorporation, wearables, Web 3.0 applications, and blockchain technology. These startups may have applications in dating and friendship, professional networking, content creation, NFT/blockchain, social media, instant messaging, extended reality, mass media, and more.

Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability

Technologies that create and advance smart cities by providing services and products for local environments, which includes buildings, neighborhoods, communities, and public spaces. These innovations may find applications in sustainability, climate change, real estate development, transportation, logistics, product delivery, autonomous vehicles, ridesharing, infrastructure, utilities, public works, security, population data, government and civic services, and more.

2023 Finalists & Alternates

 

2023 Finalists & Alternates

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice

Finalists

Aiba Safety Platform
Gjøvik, Norway

Aiba is a gamechanger in chatroom moderation, with the mission to deliver safe digital lives for kids and teenagers by detecting cyber grooming and unwanted behavior like toxicity and harassment. We deliver an AI powered moderation platform for online communities where children come to play.

Helios Life Enterprises
Saratoga Springs, NY

Helios Life Enterprises (HLE) is a pioneer in voice-based tonal analysis. HLE is the first and currently only company to conceive and devise a widely available data platform that delivers systematic analytics of an executive’s voice during critical corporate events.

nSight Surgical
San Francisco, CA

nSight Surgical is a Stanford BioDesign spinout building a computer vision AI system to decode the fundamental language of surgery. nSight Surgical’s data helps reduce infection rates, increases efficiency, makes surgery safer, and reduces costs. We are building operative intelligence!

Reality Defender
New York, NY

Reality Defender’s deepfake detection platform empowers enterprises to flag fraudulent users and content (audio, visual, documents). Our API and app provides real-time risk scoring, reporting, alerts, and forensics review. Our team spent 20+ years at Google, Goldman Sachs, and the Intelligence Community at the intersection of data science and cybersecurity.

Wearable Technologies
Hartland, WI

A personal emergency safety response system in the form of a wearable that provides a Safety-As-A-Service solution to the vulnerable population. It can detect and potentially predict hazards and protect the wearer by alerting guardians and 911/SOS automatically using assisted AI.

Alternates

AiKYNETIX
Houston, TX

AiKYNETIX is the first Video Analytics application for human motion analysis on treadmills. It captures full-body motion analysis from a single smartphone camera. As a result, the app users - runners and their coaches can measure running form and running performance metrics to improve training.

Metabob
Santa Clara, CA

AI powered dev tool that help software engineers cut debugging time in half by detecting and resolving hidden errors before merging code.

Rapta
Portland, OR

Rapta is an AI software company that helps more than 600K manufacturers solve the $100B year in lost productivity due to critical shortage of skilled workers. Our AI software empowers companies to improve their people, performance, and productivity.

Enterprise and Smart Data

Finalists

Allosense Inc
San Antonio, TX

Allosense is an industrial internet-of-things company that makes advanced sensors and measurement solutions for electric vehicle manufacturing and equipment monitoring. Allosense automates decision-making capabilities by streamlining software and sensor connectivity. Allosense improves operational efficiency and reduces waste by supporting the digital transformation of American industries, one sensor at a time.

Climatiq
Berlin, Germany

Climatiq is providing the building blocks to deliver carbon intelligence at scale. Our headless API solution is used by product managers and developers at SaaS providers and large enterprises. The carbon calculation engine can be integrated into any software or used to accelerate the development of new sustainability solutions.

CreditRich
Washington, DC

CreditRich rounds up users spare change to pay their bills intelligently and optimize credit scores in partnership with Experian and Visa

FastForward, Inc
Kearney, NE

FastForward automates the inspection and patrol documentation for electric utilities with vehicle-mounted camera systems and computer vision technology.

Optery
Walnut Creek, CA

Optery is automated opt-out software that automatically removes you from hundreds of data brokers posting and selling your personal information online.

Alternates

Verosint
Austin, TX

Verosint is an identity security company focused on helping our customers prevent user account fraud like account sharing and fake signups through an account fraud platform to help them make better identity decisions. Designed to work in real-time, we fit seamlessly into existing user flows across web and mobile apps.

Bakstage
Livingston, NJ

Bakstage is a powerful platform for brands to personalize and humanize customer experience using our proprietary Humanized Intelligent Customer Experience (HiCX). Bakstage no-code solution enables two-way live audio and video streaming capabilities to build amazing data driven experiences for customer engagement boosting customer lifetime value.

Rownd
Raleigh, NC

Rownd is an adaptive authentication company that helps businesses increase their user conversation rate by allowing them to decide how and where sign-in happens.

Entertainment, Media and Content

Finalists

Alice Camera
London, UK

Alice Camera is an AI camera that has the experience of a smartphone with the quality of a DSLR and allows creators to share content seamlessly. The Alice Camera is being built in Britain for the 500 million creators and business worldwide who make an income from sharing content.

AudioShake
San Francisco, CA

AudioShake makes audio interactive and accessible by using AI to separate recordings into their building blocks. From major and indie labels, to music publishers, artists, producers, and third parties, customers use AudioShake for sync licensing, spatial audio, and remixes, and to power the next wave of new experiences.

ICONOME
London, UK

ICONOME, creates digital destinations for the world’s biggest icons. We give these icons an official home for all their content, commercial activity, partnerships, NFTs, Music, aggregated social, news, e-commerce and everything else in their world. Delivering significant new revenue streams that traditional platforms don’t offer & unparalleled engagement for fans.

Imvizar
Dublin, Ireland

Imvizar is revolutionising storytelling through immersive, interactive and life-sized experiences, using augmented reality. Launched in late 2021, they have experiences in Ireland, UK, Portugal, US and Australia. Imvizar's new tool will make it easier than ever to create truly immersive digital storytelling experiences, without any prior coding knowledge.

PentoPix
London, UK

PentoPix is revolutionizing the world of storytelling with its AI-assisted technology that transforms text into stunning 3D animations. Our team of Ivy researchers, serial entrepreneurs are dedicated to democratizing 3D animation for all levels of creators.

Alternates

Extratime Limited
Lisbon, Portugal

Changing the world of football advertisement by creating a highly scalable real-time engagement market.

Podopolo
Santa Monica, CA

Podopolo is revolutionizing podcasting as interactive, personalized and profitable for creators. With AI-powered discovery, shared interest communities, and multiple ways for podcast hosts to boost reach and revenue, Podopolo also takes "content as conversation and connection" to a whole new level.and advertisers. As Forbes Magazine wrote about Podopolo, everyone wins.

Zoog
Even Yehuda, Israel

Zoog is leveraging Augmented Reality to bring families closer together through storytelling and other fun, educational, and engaging content that children absolutely love and enjoy. With Zoog, you can easily create unique interactive videos with the push of a button. We automatically apply filters, effects, and music that match the story, so all that is left for you to do is read! Kids can view the video you share anytime, from any device and then send you responses both within and outside of the app.

Food, Nutrition, & Health

Finalists

General Prognostics (GPx)
Boston, MA

GPx is revolutionizing remote chronic disease management with the world's first Bloodless Blood Tests. We allow physicians to remotely and non-invasively monitor blood biomarkers that are vital for managing chronic disease, similar to continuous glucose monitoring but without needles.

The PherDal Kit
Dixon, IL

PherDal is developing the first FDA-cleared, sterile, patented, over-the-counter assisted reproduction kit. After a diagnosis of unexplained infertility, our founder used her Ph.D. in Biology to invent a medical device that, in two months, conceived her daughter. 200 proof-of-concept kits sold out in 90 days, resulting in 27 pregnancies.

The ReBokeh App
Baltimore, MD

ReBokeh is developing an app-based, assistive technology system for people with moderate vision impairments that allows them to personalize how they see the world to their specific needs in any situation.

Reskued
Minneapolis, MN

Reskued's mission is to eliminate food going to landfill. We do this by working with food distributors to proactively identify inventory destined to become waste and surface it to alternative buyers via the reskued marketplace.

Vistim Labs
Salt Lake City, UT

At Vistim Labs, we help pharma and clinicians identify and treat neurological disorders with our software product for high precision tracking of neurodegenerative disease progression, including amyloid burden in the brain, tau burden in spinal fluid, and performance across a variety of cognitive assessments.

Alternates

TapRoot’s Ella
Phoenix, AZ

TapRoot, creators of Ella, a digital solution reducing dementia-related behavioral expression for seniors and their caregivers. Ella provides personalized behavior planning that mitigates dementia-related conditions while providing support, training, and best practices for caregivers.

Endless Health
Austin, TX

Endless Health makes cardiovascular health data deeper, interpretable, and actionable. Currently, health data is hidden with doctors or in our bodies. We have invented disposable sensors to regularly quantify molecular targets at home. Simultaneously, we have AI-augmented data interpretation and coaching to change behaviors, spot early warnings, and track progress.

Vironix Health
Austin, TX

Vironix builds AI-enabled software for early identification, triage, and continuous monitoring of health degeneration due to Congestive Heart Failure, Asthma, COPD, and infectious lung disease. Our products are clinically validated, outperform standard-of-care, and generate more revenue for care providers than any competitive alternative.

Future of Work

Finalists

Beams
Berlin, Germany

SaaS meta layer for mindful productivity.

gigaroo
Austin, TX

gigaroo is a future-of-work app that matches service industry employers with relevant Gen-Z job-seekers for long, short or seasonal positions. gigaroo was built to help businesses in the service industry find and retain staff on an ongoing basis by offering the employee the flexibility to choose how and when they work based on their lifestyle and needs. gigaroo’s mission is to transform the employment market in the service industry.

lyga
Sao Paulo, Brazil

We are developing the next generation of young leaders to drive change and disruption in the world's largest companies.

Reach Pathways
Chicago, IL

REACH is the college and career pathway and the nexus of companies and communities. REACH connects top talent with top opportunities within a “metaversity” ecosystem. Less like homework and more like a video game, REACH rewards students for finding jobs and completing real-life and in-game tasks. Recruiters access prepared, top-performing, and diverse talent.

Yourco
Indianapolis, IN

Trusted by small businesses and Fortune 500 enterprises, Yourco is a B2B SaaS solution that establishes an internal communication infrastructure for businesses in blue-collar industries. After launching in 2021, Yourco quickly began generating revenue, experiencing 668% revenue growth in 2022.

Alternates

Happied
Arlington, VA

With clients such as Google and Gusto, Happied creates happier and more productive workplaces by saving companies significant time, money, and administrative burden on their team, client, and community engagement events. Happied creates curated, data and feedback-driven team retreats, virtual engagements, and more - without the stress.

LeadrPro
Los Angeles, CA

LeadrPro is the 1st software marketplace directly connecting sellers with buyers of software.

Wenn
Dallas, TX

Wenn is a Recruitment Marketing Platform that leverages the power of video to help people discover jobs they love.

Innovative World Technologies

Finalists

Eascra Biotech
Boston, MA

Janus base nanomaterials (JBNs) mimic DNA and provide a highly effective, super biocompatible, temperature stable solution for drug delivery with low toxicity. JBNs are a cost-effective alternative to existing nano market options. We can customize our platform to support a variety of treatment applications including vaccines, mRNA and gene editing.

EverCase
Austin, TX

Global food waste is obscene. Freezing helps but it’s nearly 160 years old and damages food irreversibly. EverCase is the systemic approach to food preservation. It keeps food as fresh, well below freezing without any ice forming. So let’s leave the ice age behind. Let’s EverCase.

Laminar Scientific
Iowa City, IA

Change Comes in Waves: Laminar Scientific is tapping into the ocean to capture the steadiest renewable energy source. Our revolutionary wave energy device brings ocean energy to even the smallest of operators, with simple surface level installation, low-cost design and replaceable components. Laminar sells tech/patent licenses and blueprints.

Reverion Power Plant
Munich, Germany

Our new generation micro power plants maximise the potential of biogas and utilise excess solar and wind power that would otherwise go to waste. Reverion units allo maximum efficient, reversible and CO2-negative power generation.

SXD Ai
New York, NY

SXD is a tech-powered design platform turning creative visions into zero fabric waste clothing with beautiful design, lower cost, and lower carbon footprint. We eliminate waste of the past by turning leftover fabric into valuable new products and eliminate waste of the future through automated zero waste clothing designs.

Alternates

Fortius Metals
Lafayette, CO

Lasers, robots, and spaceships! Fortius Metals manufactures next-generation alloys for large format metal 3D printing. We enable stronger, lighter fabrication for customers’ products ranging from rockets to electric vehicles with our patented welding alloys.

Raven Space Systems
Kansas City, MO

Raven Space Systems is building next-generation reentry capsules to enable affordable and accessible payload return from space. Raven’s patent-pending technology is the first capable of 3D printing large-scale composite structural and heat shield materials, allowing for rapid production of entire reentry capsules.

skidattl
Milpitas, CA

Skidattl is about getting out there and finding the fun that's happening around you right here, right now. By utilizing AR to place geo anchored beacons at events, restaurants, locations etc. We act as the bat signal for your fun, so grab your utility belt and let's Skidattl

Metaverse & Web3

Finalists

Boto.io
Lewes, DE

Boto is a no-code automation platform that allows anyone to build and share bots to automate their Web3 activities.

FLock
London, UK

FLock = Federated Learning + Blockchain; We are building the world's first on-chain private neural processor.

hOS
Los Angeles, CA

hOS is an operational system created to power productivity in the Metaverse. Founded in Los Angeles, California by award winning game developers and XR engineers, hOS is quickly becoming the Metaverse OS of choice of Fortune 500 companies, global brands and Moonvalley, the world's most advanced Metaverse city.

OnChainMonkey NFT
Redmond, WA

Metagood is a Web3 company empowering communities to become catalysts for positive collective action. Through its first NFT project, OnChainMonkey (“OCM”), a historic non-fungible token collection that was created all on-chain in a single transaction, Metagood has simultaneously created value for its community members and contributed to several important causes.

Numbers Protocol
Taipei, Taiwan

Numbers Protocol is the first asset-centric cross-network protocol, building the most comprehensive solution to make digital media traceable and verifiable.

Alternates

iiNDYVERSE
London, UK

iiNDYVERSE is the Customer Activation Platform for the Web3 era. We enable Web3 marketing automations that empower creatives to leverage behavioural data to drive spend and loyalty within XR experiences. Our no-code tools and API’s quickly automate “engage to own” NFT airdrops and seamless paths to purchase within virtual-to-physical experiences.

Joyverse
Santa Clara, CA

Joyverse aims to be the largest marketplace of metaverse-ready immersive 3D experiences (hotels, shopping, yoga studio, restaurants & cafes, social engagements, live events, etc.). A no-code platform that will make it easy for creators to build immersive 3D experiences for brands and the metaverse. Think Shopify for the Metaverse.

Tirios
Austin, TX

Tirios is a vertically integrated platform that offers real estate investment opportunities for everyone. Our mission is to provide wealth-building opportunities to over 130 million people by decoupling real estate investing from homeownership. You can think of us as "Zillow + Robinhood" for Real Estate.

Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability

Finalists

AMA - Environmental Agents
Curitiba, Brazil

Smart Citizen is an innovation company specialized in developing “phygital” tools to improve people’s lives and their urban environments. We focus on popular participation and sustainable development for smart governance of public and private services, promoting environmental action and social inclusion, while fostering net-zero carbon communities.

Carbon Reform
Philadelphia, PA

Carbon Reform is creating a modular carbon capture technology that, once retrofitted into a commercial building’s ventilation system, is able to create energy savings for building owners, improve indoor air quality for occupants, and directly capture and permanently sequester tons of carbon dioxide annually.

LAND
Cleveland, OH

Software defined electric vehicles, powered by connected, swappable batteries.

Urban Machine
Oakland, CA

Urban Machine, is on a mission to build a sustainable future by salvaging millions of tons of wood waste from construction and demolition. With AI capable robots, UM reclaims old wood for reuse into locally sourced, premium lumber products.

Zofeur
Dubai, UAE

Zofeur is the world's first on-demand mobility platform for all your car-related needs on pay per minute basis. Our on-demand platform offers a wide range of services, including hiring an on-demand chauffeur, driving kids to school, garage pickup/dropoff, annual vehicle inspection, and more within 20 mins. Don't waste your valuable time on car-related tasks. Zofeur is a lifestyle platform serving anyone who does not want to compromise time, money, and comfort.

Alternates

Bold Reuse
Portland, OR

We're on a mission to end single use waste by making reusable packaging easy for all.

Manifest.eco
Austin, TX

Manifest provides sustainable ecommerce fulfillment. Oversized 3PL models produce too much waste and resort to cutbacks on the client experience. Manifest illustrates the future of fulfillment by providing sustainable packaging and clear data to teach brands more about their carbon footprint.

Swyft Cities
Mountain View, CA

The private sector can lead the autonomous transportation revolution. Swyft Cities brings hardware and software that private developers and property owners use to increase revenue, decrease costs and provide an incredible visitor experience. Our autonomous “smart gondola” is the most cost effective solution for transportation problems of large properties.

2023 Advisory Board

 

The individuals listed below were instrumental to the success of the 2023 SXSW Pitch. Their hard work, diligence, and support in bringing together the technology industry’s future to our event is greatly appreciated.

Rafat Abushaban
Riable
Gaza, Palestine

Nilima Achwal
The Female Founders
Los Angeles, CA

Stephen Adler
Tel Aviv University Canada
Toronto, Canada

Nafis Ahmed
YSpace of York University
Toronto, Canada

Meredith Ahr Goldman
linkedin.com/in/meredithahr/
Jackson, WY

Christina Alessi
Curitiba Agency
Curitiba, Brazil

Candice Alger
Creative Media Industries Institute GSU
Atlanta, GA

Saif Ali
Dastgyr Technologies
Karachi, Pakistan

Karen Allen
Infinite Album
Los Angeles, CA

Amber Allen
Double A Labs
Austin, TX

Claudia Aparicio
GrowthX-SingularithyU Colombia
Bogota, Colombia

Nina Archie
NSIN
Washington, DC

Kahil Ashanti
Mantis XR
Vancouver, Canada

Kory Bailey
UpSurge Baltimore
Baltimore, MD

Kathleen Baireuther
Breakthrough Energy
Austin, TX

Dave Barcos
Formos
Vancouver, WA

Ana Barjasic
Connectology: European Innovation Council
London, England

Juan Barraza
Portland State University Center for Entrepreneurship
Portland, OR

Ivan Barron
PREA Foundation
Seattle, WA

Elizabeth Becerril Wong
Techstars
Mexico City, Mexico

Uranik Begu
Innovation Centre Kosovo
Prishtina, Kosovo

Ben Blanquera
Rackspace
Dublin, OH

Marjan Blumberg
Marjan B. Consultancy
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Leticia Bordón Medina
Ministry of Information Technology and Communications / Gellify Iberia
Barcelona, Spain

Natara Branch
Super Group
Houston, TX

Frank Brennan
Republic of Work
Cork, Ireland

Amalie Briden
British Phonographic Industry
London, England

Deanna Brown
PMC
Austin, TX

Dirk Brown
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC

Tim Brownstone
KYMIRA
Reading, England

Leigh-Ann Buchanan
aīre ventures
Miami, FL

Sarah Burgaud
StartOut
Oakland, CA

Andy Burkemper
Coker University
Florence, SC

Aprille Busch
NSF Southwest Innovation Corps
Austin, TX

Shawna Butler
Nurse Economist
Austin, TX

Bobbie Carlton
Innovation Women
Lexington, MA

Bobby Carlton
FS Studio
Saratoga Springs, NY

Cordell Carter
Festival of the Diaspora
Rockville, MD

Rosario B Casas
XR Americas & BCPartner Tech
New York, NY

Dana Catron
Arrowhead Center at NMSU
Santa Fe, NM

Semra Celebi
Female Works & Startup Amsterdam
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Raymond Chin
Wunderman Thompson
Shanghai, Shanghai

Jan Chmelik
Ministry of Industry and Trade of The Czech
Prague, Czech

Mollie Coleman
High Caliber Events
Washington, DC

Bart Collet
Hyperadvancer
Antwerp, Belgium

Shelia D. Collins
AARP Innovation Labs
Washington, DC

Steve Cook
Liquorem Holdings
Charleston, SC

Liz Coufal
Valkyrie
Austin, TX

Lindsey Cox
LaunchTN
Nashville, TN

Buke Cuhadar
EKOS.AI
Boston, MA

Todd Cullen
Northwestern Mutual
Milwaukee, WI

Jeremy Dalton
PwC
Austin, TX

Darragh Dandurand
Independent
New York, NY

Tracy Deforge
The Players’ Impact
Franklin, MA

Gijs den Butter
SenseGlove
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Izabela Derda
Erasmus University
Leiden, Netherlands

Joyce Deuley
Zpryme Research
San Antonio, TX

Chandra Devam
ArisMD
Wilmington, DE

Ashely DeWalt
DivInc
Houston, TX

Mirco Dragowski
Strategy and Policy Advisor
Berlin, Germany

Simone Driessen
Startup Foundation
Cappelle aan den Ijssel, Netherlands

Chloe Duckworth
Valence Vibrations
Los Angeles, CA

Sophie Durey
Tamar Capital x Le Studio
San Francisco, CA

Asha Easton
Immerse UK
London, England

Tarek El Saad
InMoment
Toronto, Canada

Ellen Erickson
FedTech
Arlington, VA

Karim Fanous
Abbey Road Studios
London, England

Paola Ferrario
Region 9 Development Commission
Chicago, IL

Pedro Ferreira
Havas Media
Frankfurt, Germany

Charles Finlay
Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst
Toronto, Canada

Jessica Ford
Techstars
Anaheim, CA

Devon Fox
PGA Tour
Ponte Vedra, FL

Kathleen Fritzsche
kathleenfritzsche.com
Berlin, Germany

Tim Fulton
Horizon Two Labs
Columbus, OH

Andrea M Garcia
New Mexico Start-Up Factory
Sante Fe, NM

John Gauch
Synervoz
Toronto, Canada

Timmy Ghiurau
Volvo Cars
Gothenburg, Sweden

Jaime Gloshay
Native Women Lead
Albuquerque, NM

Brett Greene
New Tech Northwest
Seattle, WA

Nate Gross
Doximity and Rock Health
San Francisco, CA

Micheal Gutkowski
JustAnswer
New York, NY

Lorin Hamlin
Under Armour
Baltimore, MD

Bryan J. Hansen
Janssen Research & Development
Springhouse, PA

Catherine D. Henry
Media.Monks
Los Angeles, CA

Norbert Herrmann
Berlin Senate Department for Economics
Berlin, Germany

Corey Herscu
MCI Groups (MCI Group)
Los Angeles, CA

Alexander Hertel
Intuit
Victoria, Canada

Anna Hight
CzechInvest
San Francisco, CA

Nina Ho
The LaunchPad at UT Austin
Austin, TX

Cherie Hu
Water & Music
New York, NY

Harvey Hudes
Caliber Corporate Advisers
New York, NY

Grace Huefner
Build In SE
Nashville, TN

Ashley Huffman
TITAN Haptics
Mississauga, Canada

Lucie Hustolesova
CzechInvest/Erste
Prague, Czech Republic

Daryl Hyun
Echoscope
Vancouver, Canada

Melinda Jacobs
Subatomic/Perkio
Rotterdam, Netherlands

Maxim Jago
Maxim Limited
London, England

Ashley Jennings
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

Cate Johnson
Arbor Revolutions
Boulder, CO

Kasey Jones
A Better Jones and Virtual Inc.
Portland, OR

Yeni Joseph
The Next Web
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dalia Kamar
EquiTie
Cairo, Egypt

Natalia Karbasova
FitTEch Company
Munich, Germany

Gregg Katano
HOLOGATE
Los Angeles, CA

Lisa Katz
William Davidson Foundation
Troy, MI

Henry Keyser
SeeBeyondTheHype
New York, NY

Denis Kulikov
Glaza
Los Angeles, CA

James Kwan
Jumpstart Media Limited
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Yee-Lin Lai
Walton Family Foundation
Bentonville, AK

Jerri LaMirand
Uncharted Learning
Austin, TX

Hannah Lange
North Dakota Department of Commerce
Fargo, ND

Jay Latta
Jaylatta
Munich, Germany

Tiana Laurench
Founder Institute Austin
Austin, TX

Sara Ledternan
3+ Ventures
San Francisco, CA

Jennifer Lee
Plympton
Las Vegas, NV

Sly Spencer Lee
Emerge
Marina del Rey, CA

Maren Lesche
Applied Data Incubator
Berlin, Germany

Aisha Lewis
Zendesk
Austin, TX

Rebecca Lovell
Denali Founder Consulting
Seattle, WA

John Machacek
Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation
Fargo, ND

Ivy Mahsciao
evrmore
New York, NY

Cynthia Maller
Walmart
San Francisco, CA

Cindy Mallory
American Technology Services
New York, NY

Ikram Mansori
VetsinTech
San Francisco, CA

Javier Martinez
Founder Institute Dallas
Dallas, TX

Luis Martinez, MSOL
We Tha Plug
San Diego, CA

Martín Martinez
Founder Institute
Austin, TX

Luis Martins
KIT-AR
Odivelas, Lisbon

Eric Masher
Andromeda Entertainment/Q2c Vr Gamer
Cohoes, NY

Eric Mathews
Start Co.
Memphis, TN

Armando Matijevic
SplitX
San Francisco, CA

Jean-Paul Mau-Asam
New Dutch Wave
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Mara McCann
EveryGirl World
New York, NY

Alex Meland
Contact CI
Phoenix, AZ

Jon Mertz
Santa Fe Innovates
Santa Fe, NM

Neela Mollgaard
Launch Minnesota
St. Paul, MN

Martin Montero
Tavern XR
Mexico City, Mexico

Jessica Moose
Santa Fe Business Incubator
Santa Fe, NM

Violeta Moran Carofilis
Fundacion Emprender
Manta, Ecuador

Ludek Moravec
Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC
Washington, DC

Melissa Nebot Bohrer
Girls in Tech
Miami, FL

Joshua Ness
Verizon
New York, NY

Leon Neville
BPI
London, England

Doug Newcomb
Automotive News
Hood River, OR

Andrew Ngui
Greater Peoria Economic Development Council
Peoria, IL

Aline Noizet
Digital Health Connector
Barcelona, Spain

Nadyli Nunez
Ascender
Pittsburgh, PA

Damola Omotosho
Microsoft for Startups
Vancouver, WA

Cagdas Onen
Oppsense
Toronto, ON

Rafael Pagés
Volograms
Dublin, Ireland

Leon Pals
Progress Foundation
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland

David Parisi
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC

Amy Peck
EndeavorXR
San Francisco, CA

Christina Pellicane
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ

Hersh Perlis
Legal Innovation Zone
Toronto, Ontario

Jan Pflueger
advisXR
Karlsfeld, Germany

Jake Phillips
Dogpatch Labs
Dublin, Ireland

Cristina Pimentel
Universal Music Group
Los Angeles, CA

George Ploss
Oracle-NetSuite
Austin, TX

Corey Ponder
em|PACT Strategies
Brooklyn, NY

Jenny Poon
HUUB/CO+HOOTS
Phoenix, AZ

Sammy Popat
The University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD

Joanna Popper
CAA
Los Angeles, CA

Jeremy Raley
Nashville Entrepreneur Center
Nashville, TN

Varun Ramdevan
Johnson & Johnson Innovation / OneVenture
Cambridge, MA

Venki Rao
CAS
Columbus, OH

Eric Renz-Whitmore
Emergent Wave
Albuquerque, NM

Lesley Robinson
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

Steven Rodriguez
SUEGO
Queens, NY

Emily Ross
Twitter
Dublin, Ireland

Zoë Sabajo
TechLeap
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ghader Sadeghi
Raychat
Tabriz, Iran

René Salomón
Fundación Trabajo Empresa
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Santa Cruz

Farzin Samadani
curious me
Los Angeles, CA

Mark Sanders
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN

Matthew Cohen Santorelli
Boomy
New York, NY

Mina Sartipi
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN

Joy Schoffler
Distinctive Edge Partners
Austin, TX

Ivy Schultz
Columbia Engineering
New York, NY

Daniel Schutte
Momentum
Little Rock, AR

Samantha Schwartz
Workbox
Chicago, IL

Steve Schwartz
ProInfluence
Redmond, WA

Allison Sekuler
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada

Luke Shabro
Divergent Futures Consulting
Chesapeake, VA

Eric Shamlin
Media.Monks
Los Angeles, CA

Jonty Sharples
Airalo
London, England

Tal Shmueli
Stacked
Austin, TX

Roshni Shokar
Michigan Central
Detroit, MI

Harry (Skeeva) Skigis
Between Realities
Mesa, AZ

Christoph Sollich
The Pitch Doctor
Berlin, Germany

Bob Sopko
Case Western Reserve University, Jumpstart, Youngstown Business Incubator
Cleveland, OH

Marian Spier
FEM-START
Den Haag, Zuid-Holland

Sanja Stankovic
The Social Chain AG/german.innovation
Hamburg, Germany

Jim Stefansic
Cumberland Emerging Technologies
Nashville, TN

Casandra Strauss
Universal Music Group
London, England

Elizabeth Strickler
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

Zhaina Sultanova
Plug and Play Tech Center
Astana, Kazakhstan

Hunter Sunrise
Instapage
Portland, OR

Takayuki Suzuki
ParadeAll
Tokyo, Japan

Jennifer Tacheff
Manifest Advisors
San Francisco, CA

Cecilia Tham
Futurity Systems
Barcelona, Spain

Charles Thomas
Ideal City Design Group Inc
Toronto, Canada

Corine Thommen
Swissnex in San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Nate Thompson
HTX Sports Tech
Houston, TX

Frederik Tibau
Agoria
Brussels, Belgium

Kunbi Tinuoye
UrbanGeekz
Atlanta, GA

Abby Trotter
Life Science Tennessee
Nashville, TN

Rick Turoczy
PIE
Portland, OR

Jasmine Uniza
VR with Jasmine
San Jose, CA

Pedro Vasconcellos
BeerOrCoffee
Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Minh Vu
Indeed
Austin, TX

Glenn Walker
Luminate
Los Angeles, CA

Thomas Wavering
University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, OK

Michael Weatherby
BDO Canada
Surrey, Canada

Van West
Vocalytics
Newport Beach, CA

Troy Wilford
The University City Science Center
Philadelphia, PA

Austin Wilson
Tauon, LLC
Cleveland, OH

Kevin Winston
Digital LA
Los Angeles, CA

Steve Winter
Brotman|Winter|Fried Communications
McLean, Virginia

Ulrike Wohlert
Wirtschaftsförderung Land Brandenburg GmbH (WFBB)
Potsdam, Germany

Sara Wolfe
Grand Challenges
Toronto, Canada

Joey Womack
Goodie Nation
Atlanta, GA

Colleen Wong
Endeavor Global
New York, NY

Chika Yamamoto
CROSSBIE
Berlin & Tokyo

Jason Yim
Trigger XR
Los Angeles, CA

Matej Zahradnik
CzechInvest
New York, NY

Hubert Zajicek
Health Wildcatters
Dallas, TX

Anna Zò
Music Innovation Hub
Milan, Italy

2023 Judges

 

SXSW Pitch relies on hand-picked judges qualified to determine the viability of a startup based on their demonstrated business and investment experience. The judging process will determine which finalists have the most innovative product or service. The following individuals have agreed to contribute their expertise toward the success of the SXSW Pitch event.

Mike Asem
M25
Chicago, IL

Ross Buhrdorf
ZenBusiness
Austin, TX

Heath Butler
Mercury
Houston, TX

Noramay Cadena
Supply Change Capital
Los Angeles, CA

Tipatat Chennavasin
The Venture Reality Fund
Daly City, CA

Bryony Cooper
Arkley Brinc VC
Berlin, Germany

Trish Costello
Portfolia
Tiburon, CA

Christopher Day
Elevate Ventures
Indianapolis, IN

Barry Downes
Sure Valley Ventures
London, England

Stacy Feld
Johnson & Johnson
Brisbane, CA

Charlie Fink
Forbes/Chapman University
Los Angeles, CA

Gail Gannon
Ensante
Redwood City, CA

Mariano Gonzalez
MGV Capital
San Antonio, TX

Paula Groves
Impact X Capital
London, England

Arvind Gupta
Mayfield
San Francisco, CA

Monique Idlett-Mosley
Reign Ventures
Miami, FL

Jacqueline Jennings
Raven Indigenous Capital Partners
Vancouver, BC

Mohanjit Jolly
Iron Pillar
Palo Alto, CA

Anil Joshi
Unicorn India Ventures
Mumbai, India

Jenny Just
PEAK6
Chicago, IL

Mitch Kapor
Kapor Capital/Kapor Center
Oakland, CA

Laura Kilcrease
Alberta Innovates
Edmonton, Canada

Kay Koplovitz
Springboard Enterprises
New York, NY

Mingu Lee
Cleveland Avenue
Chicago, IL

Patrick Lor
Panache Ventures
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Jesse Martinez
LSA Global - Latinx Startup Alliance
Houston, TX

Neal Mody
Zoic Capital
Seattle, WA

Jennifer Neundorfer
January Ventures
Boston, MA

Janneke Niessen
CapitalT
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Sean O'Sullivan
SOSV
Princeton, NJ

Heather Redman
Flying Fish Partners
Seattle, WA

Katherine Rice
GingerBread Capital
Mill Valley, CA

Jessica Robinson
Assembly Ventures
Detroit, MI

Lee Shapiro
7wireVentures
Chicago, IL

Bryan Stolle
Wildcat Venture Partners
Portola Valley, CA

Phillip Trauer
Valor Capital Group
São Paulo, Brazil

Eli Velasquez
Investors of Color
Nantes, France

Monique Villa
Launch Tennessee
Nashville, TN

Martina Welkhoff
WXR Fund
Seattle, WA

2023 SXSW Pitch Qualifying and Coaches Committee

 

SXSW Pitch Qualifying and Coaches Committee contribute significantly to the success of SXSW Pitch. The Qualifying Committee focuses on the intake of all plans submitted and is responsible for validating the applications for accuracy, completeness, veracity and proper categorization. With their vast experience, SXSW Pitch Coaches work closely with the finalists in the months leading up to the event to assist them in their onstage presentations.

Facilitators

Dean Cruse
Tethr
Qualifier

Tanya White
I am a Robot LLC
Qualifier

Greg Wright
HATCH Pitch
Coach

Qualifiers & Coaches

Collin Anawaty
First Dollar
Qualifier

Katie Baker
Elevance Health
Coach

Mikell Becker
Sense-Comm Technology
Coach

Kara Bortone
Johnson & Johnson
Coach

Shelly Brenckman
DesignSpark Innovation Center
Coach

Mary Brendza
Curated For You
Qualifier

Molly Cain
IRS
Coach

Kevin Coker
Proxima Clinical Research, Inc.
Coach

Kyle Cox
ATP Funds
Coach

Michael Crider
The Crider Company
Qualifier

Liz Deering
Impact Haven
Coach

Jenn Deering Davis
Gradient Works
Qualifier

Candice Digby
Vapor IO
Qualifier

Christine DiPietro
Iconic Moments
Qualifier

Leslie Elder
Workrise
Qualifier

Sloan Foster
ROBOAMP
Qualifier

McArthur Gill
Swan Bitcoin
Qualifier

Benjamin Gleen
A Matter of Innovation
Coach

Jonathan Ha
Microsoft
Coach

Jacqueline Hughes
Kauffman Fellows
Qualifier

Amy Hurwitz
Boston Consulting Group
Coach

Mariam Jacob
Allergy and Asthma Clinics of Houston
Coach

Kaz Karwowski
Rice University
Coach

Teri Kelly
Salesforce
Qualifier

Barbara Kelso
Kelso Consultants
Qualifier

Esmaeil Khaksari
Clarivate
Qualifier

Rashmi Kilam
LinkedIn
Qualifier

Brian Lang
Energizing Health
Qualifier

Paulo Machado
Health Innovation Inc
Qualifier

Tejus Mane
atmoSpark Technologies
Qualifier

Lisa McDonald
Global Health Security Fund
Coach

Rob Austin McKee
University of Houston
Coach

Robert McKee
Cypress Associates
Coach

Roberto Moctezuma
Fractal River
Coach

Mellini Monique
Vocal Culture Garden
Coach

Molly Montgomery
Founder’s Haven
Qualifier

Allen Narcisse
Gigs
Qualifier

Marc Nathan
T-Squared
Coach

Will Neder
CareSet Systems
Coach

Rachelle Oribio
SolverX
Coach/Qualifier

Darryl Peek
Google Public Sector
Coach

Mark Phillip
Are You Watching This?!
Qualifier

Isabella Schmitt
Proxima Clinical Research
Coach

Sarah Spear
Auctane
Coach

Kristin Spindler
Concordia University Texas
Coach

Mike Steely
Veriphix
Coach

Mark Streich
SquareFairy
Coach

Emily Thurman
Growth Marketing Leader
Qualifier

Anita Tulsiani
Chief Marketing Officer at Carpe Data
Qualifier

Matt Udvari
Aquifer
Qualifier

Val Vacante
dentsu
Qualifier

Ashland Viscosi
Creatives Meet Business
Qualifier

Sharon Wallace
Mbira Group
Coach

Joshua Weibling
Hatch Pitch
Coach

Adam Weinroth
Form Bio
Qualifier

Chris Westfall
Westfall and Associates
Coach

Ron Yerkes
Independant Consultant
Coach

Wen Zhang
INNW Institute
Qualifier

Chen Zhang
Aquifer
Qualifier

2023 PitchBook Report

 

Each year, PitchBook, a financial data and software company, complies over a decade’s worth of data into a report for the SXSW Pitch event.

Download the 2023 Report from PitchBook below to explore industry categories and data on standout past participants from the most VC capital raised to most active investors in SXSW companies and more.

SXSW Pitch Alumni Archive

 

SXSW Pitch proudly applauds our alumni and the millions of funding along the way. Over the years, we launched our startup platform for finalists with great ideas with the goal of matching them with top investors both nationally and internationally.

Of the 613 companies that participated in SXSW Pitch between 2009 and 2022, over 93% received funding, with combined funding over almost $21.5 billion (does not include undisclosed grants, angel and seed funding). Of these 613 companies, 16% have been acquired by Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable, Meta, Michelin, Constant Contact, and Harmon. Some of our prestigious alums you may know include Klout, ICON, Hipmunk, Wildfire, Tubemogul, Siri, Foodspotting, and Tango.

Browse Archive

Learn More

See You Next Year!

Take a look back at 2023 and get ready for the next SXSW Conference & Festivals in Austin from March 8-16, 2024.

Learn More

Dive Into SXSW News

Browse the latest announcements, programming features, and important dates.

Read On

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