SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Startup World Cup partnered with Wistron Corporation and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to bring in the top startups from all over the globe for the Grand Finale pitch competition on March 24th 2017. The competition was held at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, and was kicked off by speakers including Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, Daymond John, investor on ABC’s Shark Tank, Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist of Apple, Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit, and many other unique minds from the entrepreneurship community.
Startup World Cup creates innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities for startup ecosystems all over the world. The platform is a global series of startup conferences and pitch competitions, bridging startup ecosystems worldwide, and encouraging the most talented entrepreneurs to battle for the prestige of winning the World Cup. 15 regional pitch competitions were set up in countries around the world, leading up to the championship battle in Silicon Valley. Startup World Cup is powered by Fenox Venture Capital, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm.
A variety of topics were discussed at the event including “The Untold Stories of Apple” by Steve Wozniak, “The Power of Broke” by Daymond John, and “The Top Ten Mistakes of Entrepreneurs” by Guy Kawasaki. The event was hosted by actress and entrepreneur, Rachele Brooke Smith, and brought together the top VCs, entrepreneurs, and world-class tech CEOs.
15 startups battled for the World Cup:
1st Place – UniFa (Japan)
2nd Place – Open Bionics (United Kingdom)
3rd
Place – Ahlijasa (Indonesia)
The rest of the finalists in no particular order:
• Crysp (India)
•
SnappyScreen (New York, USA)
• Light & Data Technology (China)
•
Delvv.io (South Africa)
• Entropix (California, USA)
• ShipVio
(Czech Republic)
• Fitly (Boston, USA)
• Uprise (Australia)
•
Jarvish (Taiwan)
• Epsilon (Luxembourg)
• LiveCare (South
Korea)
• 3DPrinterOS (Texas, USA)
UniFa of Japan came in 1st place and claimed the $1,000,000 prize in investment from Fenox Venture Capital. UniFa is an IoT solution for tracking kindergarteners’ physical and mental growth using a personal robot called Meebo, a smart thermometer, and a smart bed that collects data from children at kindergarten to give parents a better idea of their child’s well-being. 2nd place went to Open Bionics, a 3D printer of robotic arms from the United Kingdom, and 3rd place was taken by Ahlijasa, an on-demand laundry service from Indonesia.
Judges at the event included: Tim Draper of DFJ, David Cohen of Techstars, Kevin Hale of Y Combinator, Eric Feng of KPCB, Alireza Masrour of Plug & Play Ventures, Lisa Suennen of GE Ventures, and Edith Yeung of 500 Startups.
