South by Southwest Conference and Festivals announced the winners of the 14th annual SXSW Pitch event, which took place March 12-13 at the Hilton Austin Downtown during the startups track of the conference. In addition to a winner chosen from each of the 9 categories, one finalist also took home the overall “Best In Show” award.
The category winners of the 2022 SXSW Pitch event are:
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice: Hume AI
Enterprise & Smart Data: Syrup Tech
Entertainment, Gaming & Content: Action Face
Extended Reality & Immersive Technology: MATSUKO
Future of Work: Anthill
Health, Wearables & Wellbeing: Sonavi Labs
Innovative World Technologies: Hilos
Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics: JusticeText
Social & Culture: MOGL
SXSW Pitch 2022 also crowned its “Best In Show” winner, Hilos. Special awards were also presented to Kiro Action for “Best Bootstrap,” Unpacking for “Best One Minute Speed Pitch,” and Sonavi Labs for “Best DEI.”
Each of the winners received $4,000, two badges for next year’s SXSW conference, a trophy, and most importantly, exceptional exposure to SXSW attendees and potential investors who are looking for the latest in cutting-edge technology and innovation.
“Now in our 14th year, Pitch continues to showcase the best technology from around the globe, with the highest tier of presenting companies in event history featured this weekend,” said SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine. “This year in particular, we have seen a significant increase in gender diversity in the tech sector, with close to 50% of the participating startups having at least one female founder. We can’t wait to see what these game-changing companies accomplish in the future.”
This year’s participating companies represent the most cutting-edge technologies from around the world, with the highest caliber of applicants since SXSW Pitch’s beginning. To date, 572 companies have participated in SXSW Pitch, with over 82 percent receiving funding and acquisitions in excess of almost $14.5 billion.
Strong trends showcased at this year’s event included the metaverse shifting how technology is interacted with, the incorporation of NFTs into products and services, sustainable solutions related to COVID, an ongoing emphasis of health and the ubiquitous integration of tech aspects into daily living. The competition also drew a number of global companies, with 15 of the 45 startups traveling from countries including Canada, China, Germany, Frances, Switzerland, Slovakia, Finland, Japan, Singapore and Pakistan.
(Courtesy SXSW)
