Eight Ukrainian startups selected to represent Ukraine at SXSW 2023: List of Pitch Day winners
On February 6, Pitch Day was held, where 14 Ukrainian companies competed for the opportunity to present their innovations at SXSW 2023 in Austin, USA.
This is an international conference that has been gathering leaders from NASA, Slack, Porsche, IBM, Kickstarter, Nike, and Microsoft for 36 years in a row. Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Mark Cuban, and other celebrities have already visited SXSW.
In total, more than 50 startups submitted applications to participate in the SXSW selection, 14 of which were invited to an online pitch to compete for a chance to join the Ukrainian delegation at the international event.
The startups were judged by Jonathan Dern of Sabella Dern Entertainment, Andriy Fedoriv of Fedoriv Group, and representatives of the initiative’s organizers and partners.
Based on the results of the pitching, a professional jury selected eight winners who will receive stands at SXSW 2023 and invitations to the Ukraine & Friends networking event:
- Esports Charts — Google analytics for live streaming.
- Deep3dstudio — photogrammetric studio that creates realistic 3D avatars.
- WE/AR Studio — creative studio for AR/VR solutions for business.
- Mriya Production — production company that creates virtual worlds.
- Zibra AI — platform for creating realistic 3D content using AI.
- 3DLOOK — developer of virtual fitting rooms for online stores.
- Aspichi — platform for time and space travel that uses 360 video and VR.
- V-Art — platform that helps brands license and monetize their digital assets using the blockchain.
“The peculiarity of this year’s SXSW selection is not only the large number of people willing to attend the legendary international conference in Texas, but also their creative developments, high-quality innovative products and readiness to impress the world. The eight finalists who will be part of the Ukrainian startup delegation are bold innovators with breakthrough ideas who, in the difficult conditions of war, still continue to develop their projects, move forward confidently, and look for opportunities to scale in global markets and attract investment. I am convinced that this year’s Ukrainian delegation will adequately represent our country to the global tech community at SXSW and once again prove that Ukraine is confidently positioning itself as a fast-growing player in the field of innovation and technology,” said Pavlo Kartashov, Director of the Ukrainian Startup Fund.
FOR THE REFERENCE:
The Ukrainian delegation to SXSW 2023 will be supported by the USAID Competitive Economy Program, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Startup Fund, Startup Grind Kyiv, and Western NIS Enterprise Fund, with the assistance of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States, and Innovation Bridge Europe.
The international conference SXSW 2023 (South by Southwest) will be held in Austin, Texas, USA, from March 10 to 19, 2023.
