South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festivals announced over the weekend the winners of the 10th annual Accelerator Pitch Event, which took place March 10th-11th during the Startup & Tech Sectors Track at the Downtown Hilton Austin. The event’s organizers also reported in addition to the 10 winners chosen among the 50 finalists, five finalists for each of Accelerator’s 10 categories with one winner per category, one finalist also took home the overall “Best In Show” distinction.
The category winners of the 2018 SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event are:
- Augmented and Virtual Reality: ARwall
- Enterprise and Smart Data”: DroneSeed
- Entertainment and Content: Vochlea Music
- Health and Wearables: Nanowear
- Hyper-Connected Communities: GrubTubs
- Payment and FinTech: FutureFuel.io
- Security and Privacy: PolyPort
- Social and Culture: ICON 3D
- Sports and Performance: Nix
- Transportation: GoKid
SXSW Accelerator also announced its inaugural “Best In Show” winner, Nanowear, a New York-based connected-self technology platform for diagnostics and disease management based on proprietary cloth-based nanosensors and analytics. Each winner notably received $4,000, two badges for next year’s SXSW Interactive conference, trophy, and most importantly, exceptional exposure to SXSW attendees and potential investors who are looking for the latest in “cutting-edge” technology and innovation. SXSW Accelerator Event Producer, Chris Valentine, stated:
“The 10th anniversary of our Pitch Event was celebrated with the best of the best in technology innovations, as showcased by our winners this year. Congratulations to each of them and to the companies that are going above and beyond to reshape the world in which we live with their advancements and forward-thinking when it comes to creating, partnering and ultimately growing beyond the startup phase. It’s been a pleasure to watch the evolution that has taken place over the past 10 years in the tech scene, and we’re pleased to continue bringing together the various startup ecosystems from around the world.”
Organizers then added that this year’s SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event featured startups from around the globe presenting innovative products in front of a live audience and panels of expert judges, which included successful entrepreneurs, investor, and industry influencers.