Announcements

The Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) is announcing a strategic partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to empower tech entrepreneurs driving transformative innovations in improving nutrition and food security worldwide to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including "Zero Hunger."

Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition focused on mission-driven tech innovation, announces today a new regional competition track to highlight exceptional entrepreneurs from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the U.S. The winners of this new regional competition will automatically advance to be global finalists of the XTC 2022 startup competition and have an opportunity to go on and compete in the XTC Global Finals next year.

Now that the XTC 2021 Category Winners have been announced, we’re pulling back the curtain to take a behind-the-scenes look into the competition process. On June 3rd, 2021, our 80 Global Finalists attended a week-long Bootcamp led by institutional investors, corporate leaders, and domain experts providing actionable insights to help XTC Finalists grow their world-changing startups and prepare their pitches for the Category Finals.

XTC is thrilled to announce that the Global Winner of the 2020 XTC competition is Genecis, an awe-inspiring cleantech startup that converts food waste into biodegradable plastics and other high value materials. Receiving the Female Founder Award was Microgen Biotech’s Xuemei Germaine and the Covid-19 Innovation Award went to Tyto Care.

Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition for purpose-driven tech innovation, announced today four Special Awards Winners selected to compete at the XTC 2021 Global Finals presented by TechCrunch on July 22, 2021.

Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition focused on purpose-driven innovation, announced today seven Category Winners selected to compete at the XTC 2021 Global Finals presented by TechCrunch on July 22, 2021. Audiences from around the world are invited to join the virtual event (free registration) to watch these top contenders compete for the crown of XTC 2021 Global Winner.

For the first time ever, the Extreme Tech Challenge wants YOU, the audience, to help us decide which tech startup earns XTC’s inaugural People’s Choice Award and a competing spot in the XTC Global Finals 2021 presented by TechCrunch on July 22nd. The 2021 Category Finals pitch competition began on June 21 and will run until June 30th. Those wanting to cast their votes for the People’s Choice are encouraged to tune in here.

Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest startup competition focused on purpose-driven innovation, today announces 80 startup finalists from 24 nations across 6 continents who are invited to participate in a virtual XTC Bootcamp this month with the opportunity to qualify for the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) Global Finals 2021 presented by TechCrunch on July 22, 2021.

The XTC application window has closed and our evaluation process has formally begun! We’re so excited with our competition’s growth this year, and the incredible participation from all around the world. While last year’s competition generated some 2,200 applications, this year we more than doubled that number with 3,500+ applications submitted, from 92 countries (compared with 81 countries in 2020)! This pays testament to the rise of a new generation of tech startups that are committed to advancing purpose driven innovation and addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The Next Wave video interview series is hosted by Young Sohn, Chairman of the Board, HARMAN International, Founding Managing Partner, Walden Catalyst, Co-Founder, Extreme Tech Challenge. Join him as he unpacks the brave new world of technology and business with some of the leading minds driving the next economy. In this episode of “The Next Wave,” Young Sohn chats with Bill Tai, Co-founder of Extreme Tech Challenge, about his work in venture capital, their work together on the Extreme Tech Challenge and how kite surfing has impacted his career.

ReWire, the 2020 Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) FinTech Award Winner, recently raised a $20 million Series B investment. The funding round was led by XTC regional partner OurCrowd, and XTC Global Finals judge Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo!

Inspired by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the Extreme Tech Challenge supports and showcases innovators that harness the power of technology for the benefit of humankind. Our core seven competition categories include: Healthcare; FinTech; Smart Cities Transport; CleanTech & Energy; Education; AgTech Food & Water; and Enabling Tech. For 2021, however, we are excited to announce the addition of four Specialized Awards given to Finalists who show exemplary innovation highlighting thematic tech issues, promoting diversity, and aligning with current events

The Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) has announced a partnership with TechCrunch to host its 2021 Global Finals event. XTC has also introduced four specialized awards -- COVID-19 Innovation Award, Female Founder Award, Ethical AI Award, and Positive Home Award -- to be presented alongside the seven existing category winners and one overall competition winner on July 22, 2021. With increased interest in this year’s startup competition and the expansion of the XTC Global Finals with TechCrunch, the application deadline has been extended to 11:59PM PT on April 25, 2021.

Continuing our celebration of Women’s History Month, we sat down with Kristin Kagetsu and discussed Saathi, the Healthcare Category Winner for our 2020 competition, to learn more about her experience cofounding a startup and competing in XTC.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we sat down with 2020 Female Founders Award winner Luna Yu and discussed her company Genecis, the Cleantech winner for the 2020 competition, to learn more about her experience leading a startup and competing in XTC.