Abivin is the winner of the 2019 $1 M Startup World Cup
The 2019 Startup World Cup Grand Finale is one of my favorite startup events. The Startup World Cup, which is organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures, is a world wide competition with 35 global regional pitch events. The regional events are held in places like Nigeria and Vietnam as well as more well known places like Silicon Valley and Boston.
This year’s Grand Finale was held at the San Francisco Masonic Center and was a full day extravaganza. Before the final pitches from the finalist, there’s a mixture of international entertainment and fireside chats and speeches with A-List entrepreneurs.
My favorites was the fireside chat with Pandora Founder Tim Westergren and the keynote by TechCrunch’s Josh Constine who gave my favorite line of the event, “Create Your Own Hype but Don’t Believe It.” Afterwards, we were able to view the pitches of the 12 Global Finalists.
And the Winner Is….
Abivin, the finalist from Vietnam, took the top prize of $1 million. They have built an AI powered Logistics Optimization platform that helps companies save on logistics costs, automate process, and enable complete supply chain visibility.
Finalist from Norway
Tag Sensors, the finalist from Norway, has developed an innovative temperature logger solution that innovates the cold chain management. In their pitch, they announced a world wide global rollout with McDonalds.
Finalist form United States (Boston)
Sonavi Labs, the finalist from Boston, has developed the Feelix and FeelixPro, digital stethoscopes that incorporates their patented core AI technology.
Finalist from Mauritius
Aeraccess, the finalist from Mauritius, designs and manufactures custom drones used for law enforcement and the military.
Finalist from Japan
JEPLAN, the finalist from Japan, is a recycling company that has effectively been able to recycle clothes made from polyester. They have effectively created a textile to textile recycling supply chain in Japan with revenues of $7 M annually.
Finalist from Canada
Klue, the finalist from Canada, is a platform that aggregates competitive intelligence info from disparate sources and consolidates it into an easy to use dashboard.
Finalist from Australia
Starts at 60, the finalist from Australia, is the largest Australian online community for seniors with aspirations to rollout to the United States.
Finalist from Finland
Finnos, the finalist from Finland (an unintentional alliteration) , offers solutions that produce accurate comprehensive data on log quality already from sorting.
Finalist from Korea
Noul, the finalist from Korea, has developed miLab which is a compact device that can quickly and inexpensively test for Malaria using a very small blood sample.
Finalist from United States (Silicon Valley)
Mira, the finalist from Silicon Valley, has developed an FDA registered platform that consist of both hardware and software that tracks a woman’s fertility.
Finalist From Brazil
Biosolvit, the finalist from Brazil, created a material that can effectively absorb crude oil from water as they demonstrated in their video demo. Their tagline was save the world and make money.
Finalist from Sweden
Mimbly, the finalist from Sweden, has created an add on water recycling system designed for hotel and apartment building washing machines. Their system saves 90% of water, 30% in energy, and reduces the microplastics sent into the river and oceans.
Final Thoughts
As I reflect on the finale, I think it’s amazing that obscure startups world wide can share a global stage with other powerhouse startups from Silicon Valley and get the visibility and funding they need to grow. It’s quite amazing. The World Cup illustrates that innovation occurs globally and I look forward to the 2020 competition.
