South by Southwest (SXSW) has revealed the finalists for the 12th annual SXSW Pitch event, taking place March 14 – 15 at the downtown Hilton Austin. The competition takes place during the Startup Track of the SXSW Conference, with 50 startups chosen to compete based on the technological innovation brought to their fields. One winner will be selected from each category, and the most promising project will receive the Best In Show award.
The 50 startup finalists will present their innovations to a panel of expert judges in front of a live audience during SXSW Pitch. Participating judges include industry influencers and entrepreneurs from organizations like NEA, Accel Partners, Backstage Capital, Mayfield Fund, X, Flybridge Capital, Kapor Capital and more.
This year’s event includes startups within existing popular technology sectors like artificial intelligence and virtual reality, but also adds three new categories: Consumer Technology & CPG; Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics; and Innovative World Technologies.
The finalists of the 2020 SXSW Pitch in each category are:
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice: Artisense; Deepblocks; Intvo; Sonavi Labs; Wunder
Augmented & Virtual Reality: echoAR; Eyedaptic; holoride; Looxid Labs; Praxis Labs
Blockchain: AgUnity Pty Ltd; DrumG; Quantstamp; Votem; Winding Tree
Consumer Technology & CPG: AVA Technologies Inc; EasyKale Labs; FAVES; Renzoe Box; Trust & Will
Enterprise & Smart Data: LexSet; Passbase; StrongSalt; Syndio; Virtualitics
Entertainment & Content: Citefull; Filmchain; Quicc; St. Noire by Virsix Games; Wriveted
Health, Wearables & Wellbeing: Milis Bio; Radiobotics; Safe Health; Sisu Global; TruPigment
Innovative World Technologies: Betmarkets; Lofty AI; MolyWorks; NeelAgil Technologies Private Limited; Plantible Foods
Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics: cove.tool; Flugauto; Sapient Industries; Trella; Waycare
Social & Culture: Agrona; Applied Bioplastics; Arist; Collective Liberty; Skilllab
Out of the 503 companies that participated in SXSW Pitch from 2009 and 2019, over 75 percent have received funding, with combined funding in excess of $6.6 billion (not including undisclosed grants, angel and seed funding). Of these companies, 16 percent have been acquired by established leaders like Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, OpenTable, Live Nation, and others.