This is the flagship competition that takes place during the ICT Spring event organized by Farvest. Its CEO, Kamel Amroune, tells us more about this unique event in Luxembourg whose selection phases for eight distinct categories take place throughout the year. While the semi-finalists for five of them are already known, there are still some startups left to try their luck – before 31 July – in the following categories Cybersecurity, Supply Chain and AI, Machine Learning & Big Data.
Can you pitch us the “Pitch Your Startup” competition?
PYSU is an international competition, with Luxembourgish roots, aimed at finding and rewarding the best innovative and tech-oriented startups under 5 years old, divided into different categories.
The competition takes place in several stages: startups apply free of charge online all year round, experts select the 12 most promising projects in each category, which will then be invited to pitch in the semi-finals. The winners of each vertical compete in the inter-category final to win the €50,000 prize offered by Docler Holding.
Each pitch lasts 3 minutes and 33 seconds, followed by 2 minutes of questions and answers with the jury.
Since 2016, Pitch Your Startup takes place during the international tech summit ICT Spring, one of our flagship events at Farvest.
What are recent years’ highlights?
In 2018, when the Japanese startup Empath won the first prize (see our article “Emotion AI startup Empath wins the 4th edition of Pitch Your Startup“), there was a shift in the competition from a European to an international scope. It was particularly thanks to the international delegations and the support of the Ministry of Economy and the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Offices that we were able to welcome startups from Asia, and North America…
At the end of 2019, the competition evolved in parallel with Farvest‘s new event calendar and its “4 seasons” (technology in spring, marketing and communication in summer, human capital in autumn and finance in winter), and is now spread over different peaks throughout the year. Startups can thus position themselves in upto three categories.
???? 2 MORE WEEKS ❗️ Startups, we want you ???? so we extended our deadline ???? You have until 31/07 to apply to the AI, Machine Learning & Big Data – Cybersecurity – Supply Chain categories on https://t.co/yXTV7w5Gcq ???? 50K€ in prize money for the Grand Finale’s winner #PYSU2020 pic.twitter.com/NpY1olarF3
— PitchYourStartUp (@PYSU_eu) July 14, 2020
What do you expect from this year’s competition? Which categories are open?
Keep it growing! This year we hope to continue to surpass the number of applications (261 startups in 2019, compared to 120 in 2018). We are keen to put young companies in the spotlight by giving them a platform to get noticed by potential partners, customers or investors. This is also why Farvest has always promoted the participation of startups by offering affordable solutions and a stage to showcase their products/services.
This season (2019/2020) has 8 categories, including 5 semi-finals that have already taken place between November 2019 and March 2020: HRTech, Smart Mobility, FinTech, RegTech, InsurTech, Cybersecurity, Supply Chain and finally the last category, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Big Data.
How will the final phase take place in September?
The final phase, which will bring together the winners of each of the 8 categories of the PYSU 2019/2020 season, will take place on September 15th at the ICT Spring. The 8 finalists will have to present their companies in front of a jury of experts. Just as important as the content, the form of the pitch will also be highlighted, as the startups will have to imagine a spectacular and original way of pitching their project.
The finalists in the Cybersecurity, Supply Chain and AI, Machine Learning & Big Data categories will have been chosen in the semi-finals held earlier in the morning.
In 3 words, why should a startup try its luck at the PYSU contest?
Challenge
Visibility
Opportunities
Apply now. For free: pitchyourstartup.eu
Photo: Kamel Amroune, Farvest’s CEO @ Dominique Gaul
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