Extreme Tech Challenge Announces Global Finalists, Debuts COVID-19 Innovation Award and Female Founder Award
Theme for this year’s Global Finals on July 15th is ‘Pitch for Hope’
MENLO PARK, CA — June 5, 2020 — Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition for addressing global challenges, announced today the 52 finalists – representing 19 countries and 6 continents – who are invited to participate in the next phase of the competition. This includes a virtual XTC Bootcamp this month and the opportunity to qualify for the Global Finals on July 15, 2020.
Inspired by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), XTC supports and showcases innovators harnessing the power of technology to address the greatest challenges facing humanity and our planet. XTC recognizes deserving founders across AgTech, Food and Water; Cleantech and Energy; Education; Enabling Technologies; Fintech; Healthcare; and Transportation and Smart Cities. For the first time this year, awards will also go to a breakthrough startup responding to the global COVID-19 crisis and to a top female-founded startup, whose innovations are driving solutions to global challenges.
Competition judges narrowed a field of 2,419 applicants from 87 countries and a range of funding stages from seed to Series C. Regardless of backgrounds and locations, all contenders have one thing in common – their innovations have the potential to make the world a better place, which inspired this year’s Global Finals Theme: Pitch for Hope.
“XTC is about the collective effort – industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts joining forces to make real progress in solving the world’s toughest challenges,” said Young Sohn, Co-Founder of XTC, Former Corporate President and Chief Strategy Officer, Samsung Electronics and Chairman of the Board, HARMAN International. “That work can’t happen without brilliant innovators from around the world. Congratulations to our finalists, selected from a large pool of stellar teams who applied this year. We all look forward to the next phase of the competition. Together, we can turn ideas into reality, and unlock breakthrough innovations in service of society.”
Finalists, listed below, were evaluated by over 80 leading venture capitalist and corporate executives from: NXP, Ford, Microsoft/M12, Deutsche Telekom T-Labs, Samsung, Tech Mahindra, Intel Capital, Evercore, HARMAN, Cadence Design Systems, University of California, Benhamou Global Ventures, Fujitsu, Kejora Ventures, OurCrowd, IT-Farm, SGInnovate, Citi Ventures, John Deere, International Finance Corp, Pitango Ventures, AI Fund, 7wire Ventures, GSV Ventures, Pond Venture Partners, Better Food Ventures, Fulcrum Global Capital, Learn Capital, SVG Ventures, FinTLV, Triventures, Quark Venture, and others.
The Top 52 XTC 2020 Finalists are:
Global Finalists receive the opportunity to earn global visibility, raise capital, network with global entities (corporations, VCs, partners), and gain the mentorship they need to pioneer technological breakthroughs and help power a sustainable future.
The virtual XTC Bootcamp takes place June 11 – 18, 2020. There, finalists will receive coaching and insight from industry leaders as they prepare to pitch to a group of judges for each category. From that pitch, seven category winners will be announced and invited to pitch at the 2020 Global Finals in front of a panel of world-class judges including: Samsung’s Former Corporate President and Chief Strategy Officer, Young Sohn; Partner Emeritus at Charles Rivers Ventures, Bill Tai; Founder of Draper Associates, Tim Draper; Founder of Jeito Capital, Rafaèle Tordjman; and Accel Partner, Philippe Botteri.
XTC Global Finals will take place on July 15, 2020. Registration is available at extremetechchallenge.org/registration
About Extreme Tech Challenge
Extreme Tech Challenge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation whose mission is to elevate the next-generation of entrepreneurs creating new technologies and innovations to benefit humankind. The Extreme Tech Challenge™ competition brings together startups, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and world leaders to bring solutions that address the challenges facing humanity and our planet. Extreme Tech Challenge partners include Arm, ACTAI Global, BGV, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco, Deutsch Telekom T-Labs, DLA Piper, Evercore, Ford, Fujitsu, HARMAN, Intel, IT-Farm, Kejora Ventures, Maekyung Media, Microsoft, Morgan Lewis, NXP, Orrick, Our Crowd, Platform Calgary, Samsung Electronics, SG Innovate, SLUSH, SVG Ventures, Tech Mahindra, TechCrunch, Tech in Asia, University of California, Your Story and Zoom. A list of complete XTC partners and how to join can be found at extremetechchallenge.org