With Pioneers ’19 now just three weeks away, we’re excited to announce the line-up of 50 startups we’ve selected to pitch at our flagship event, which takes place in Vienna on May 9th-10th. Hand-picked from the 500 seed startups we’ve invited to be with us at the Hofburg Imperial Palace, these are the lucky few who’ll have a shot at winning the traditional networking trip to Silicon Valley!
As usual, the startups will be divided into seven pitching sessions, each with its own topic. The jury for each of these mini-contests will choose a winner to advance to the final eight, who will pitch on the Arena Stage on the second day. The last finalist will be a wild card voted for by the audience.
Here are the tracks, their definitions, and the startups who’ll compete in each of them!
Moving the World
Mobility or logistics startups working to transport people and goods faster, smarter and safer.
Startups: Recogni, ONO, Naoris, MotionTag, Mashroom, ClearKarma, Carplane
Working Smarter
Technology that solves pain points for businesses, helping them to spend fewer resources on day-to-day processes or reach their goals more effectively.
Startups: ZAPIENS, Uhura, TPS Engage, Nexus Edge, Cubbit, ChiveOS, Alpha AR
Digital Economics
Startups working on payments and transaction technologies, investment tools and financial management breakthroughs.
Startups: Xencio, Value3, USDX Wallet, Trality, RealMarket, Auquan
Augmenting Nature
Deep science that pushes the bounds of nature, builds something new out of its elements – or puts it back in working order!
Startups: Oxford Cellentech, HepC, Genomtec, EcoPack, DropGenie, 9T Labs, CytoSwitch
Powering a Sustainable World
Startups with sustainable technology at their core, or which enable sustainable business practices.
Startups: SolCold, NiveauUp, MetGIS, HYDROGRID, Birds.ai, doro, Powhere
The Good Life
Technology that builds a safer, smarter or more enjoyable world for ordinary people.
Startups: Vicara, StoryBall, LogSentinel, H2L, crime.ai, Crashtest Security, COZYO, 1702ai
Living Long and Healthy
Devices and software solutions that diagnose, analyse or monitor health issues or help us to live healthier for longer.
Startups: HT Biolmaging, Gero, Komra, DX-Labtrack, contextflow, Breathe ILO, BrainTrip, 3D-SHAPER
For those that make it through to the final, it will be hard to keep their minds off the big prize enjoyed by all our winners in recent years: a networking trip to Silicon Valley. Once again they’ll meet some of the most influential people in the Californian tech hub, just like Stromkind and SzeleSTIM did in the last two years.
But there’s more to first prize than just an all-expenses paid trip for two team members to the city every startup wants to visit. Two team members will also get Talent Garden Flex membership for one year. The winners will be able to get a video pitch professionally filmed by Austrian television network Puls4.
This year will not be a winner-takes-all affair either. Each of the remaining Top 8 finalists will get a Talent Garden Club membership for one team member for a year.
Furthermore Pioneers Ventures, our own investment arm, has set aside €500,000 for potential co-investments in Top 8 startup funding rounds led by investors participating in Pioneers ’19. This is at Pioneers’ discretion and subject to the necessary due diligence processes.
Following our recent experiments with giving the jury a ‘cut-off buzzer’ at Mobility.Pioneers and GovTech.Pioneers earlier this year, we’ve decided to use the same system for the first-round pitches on day one at Pioneers ’19. This means the startups will only be able to complete their 180-second pitches if one of the jury members hits the buzzer before the 99-second mark.
The Top 8 showdown on the second day will also see a few tweaks. Stay tuned to our channels for more details of how that final-afternoon battle on the Arena Stage will look this year…
Check out the full Pioneers ’19 program here. And just in case you’re wondering, there are still a few tickets available!
