Our Elevator Pitch LIVE competition took place in London yesterday (26th September 2017).
Set within the cultural hub of London’s Kings Place, UKTN welcomed a selection of the UK’s most exciting high-growth tech firms to pitch in front of a room full of investors, expert judges and fellow entrepreneurs.
As the dust settles on the second iteration of our annual live pitch extravaganza, we reflect on the event and provide a roundup of the 14 brilliant startups that took to the stage.
But, before we delve into how things unfolded, we want to offer a special thanks to our sponsors for their support in making Elevator Pitch LIVE 2017 a resounding success – Kreeston Reeves, Cisco, Stirling Ackroyd, EY and Digital Radish.
Further thanks go to our panel of expert judges, who have been left with the unenviable task of selecting winners in each tech category. They were: Suzanne Ashman, partner at LocalGlobe; Diana Krantz, VC investor at Draper Esprit; Eyal Malinger, investment director at Beringea; and Tom Wilson, investment manager at Seedcamp.
AdTech / MarTech
Following the obligatory dose of coffee and an initial burst of networking, the morning commenced with the live pitches in the AdTech and MarTech category sponsored by Kreeston Reeves.
First on the stage to deliver his three-minute presentation was Tom McDonnell, CEO of Monterosa – the company builds digital experiences that create a closer connection with fans. Monterosa combines cutting-edge technology and human behavioural insights, delivering the right type of interactive experience to achieve the objectives of the brands it works with.
Hot on Tom’s heels was a pitch from Sceenic CEO Paul Bojarski. Paul gave the crowd a succinct introduction to his startup, which has created a SaaS solution to enable media firms to transform their current video experience into an interactive watch-together experience for consumers.
Completing the pitches in the AdTech and MarTech category was Pedro Carvalho, head of marketing at Vidsy: a startup which allows brands to link up with creators to produce mobile video ads. A Founders Factory graduate, Vidsy raised £1.3m earlier this year.
HealthTech
With no pause for breath, the next category in the running order was HealthTech sponsored by Digital Radish. Cera kicked things off, with the company’s chief of staff Pauline Richard giving a 180-second snapshot of the multi-award winning and technology-enabled homecare provider, which has raised £3.2m to date.
Next to the stage was Anne-Laure Le Cunff, CEO of Lysa and a former global marketing manager at Google for several digital health products. Lysa is the first cross-platform AI-powered nutrition assistant that helps users make better food choices, without following a restrictive diet.
Rounding off the HealthTech pitches was Thriva. Its CEO and co-founder Hamish Grierson explained how the company is building the world’s first preventative healthcare service – one that is fit for the 21st century, enabling remote access to everyone and using data intelligently to predict and prevent problems before they occur. It has raised £1.5m to date.
PropTech
Third on the billing was PropTech, which was sponsored by Stirling Ackroyd. To get the balling rolling in this category, Nick Katz, the CEO and co-founder of Acasa, provided an introduction to his startup that is building foundational technology that runs the home, so the world can live better, together.
The final PropTech business to pitch was SPCE, a new app that allows the higher education community to search and pay for University-specific student rental properties near campuses. SPCE has raised just over £280,000 via crowdfunding, with its pitch being delivered by the company’s CEO and co-founder, Leon Ifayemi.
FinTech
Always hotly contested at UKTN’s Elevator Pitch, the spotlight then moved to the EY-sponsored FinTech category. To get us started was Matty Cusden-Ross, CEO and founder at Flux: a data platform that closes the offline to online shopping loop. By connecting to the retailer’s point of sale Flux gets rid of paper loyalty cards and receipts by linking exactly what you buy to what you already have in your pocket – your bank card. The company recently announced a £1.5m Seed.
The second FinTech startup to pitch was SeedLegals. Anthony Rose, the founder and CEO, delivered a concise introduction to his latest venture; the company allows founders and investors to create all the legal documents they need to build their company and close their funding round, online, in minutes from any connected device.
Cybersecurity
Last but by no means least, attention turned to the cybersecurity category, which was sponsored by Cisco. First to the stage was Harry Keen, CEO of Anon AI, to explain how his company is overcoming the challenge of automatic data anonymisation using AI.
James Neville, CEO and founder of Citizen followed Harry with the next pitch. Secure, frictionless authentication – Citizen is a platform for password-less login, one touch identity exchange and account verification.
And finally, bringing proceedings to a close was Fortitude’s founder David Atkinson. Fortitude is developing Cognition, the first real-time, integrated intelligence offering for cyber defence allowing customers to see the bigger picture.
The results…
The results of UKTN’s Elevator Pitch LIVE 2017 will be announced an exclusive, invitation-only awards ceremony.
Taking place on Thursday 5th October at the renowned County Hall on London’s Southbank, the Elevator Pitch Awards 2017 will celebrate the premiere startup in each tech category – as decided by our expert judges – as well two further awards for the Best Live Pitch and the blue ribbon title of Standout Success.
We look forward to announcing the award winners next week!