Connecticut based IronYun was the Gold winner for Startup of the Year at the X-Pitch 2021 competition held in TAIPEI, Taiwan on November 11th. The Grand Finale brought together the TOP150 semi-finalists who vied for the prize of a $1 million investment. The internationally based competitors pitched their businesses online, while local teams pitched during an autonomous car ride at the Hutoushan Innovation Hub of Taoyuan City. The winners were chosen based on a 3-minute online pitch given by the top 15 finalists at the TutorABC’s T-Space.
X-PITCH 2021’s theme was TECH FOR GOOD, focusing on the world’s post-pandemic challenges. Participating teams presented their applications and services developed that align with the global digital transformation now underway. The competition’s five categories were:
- Best Public Service,
- Best Industrial / Supply Chain Startup
- Best Consumer Lifestyle Startup
- Best Mobility / Transportation Startup
- Best Banking / Commerce Startup
IronYun’s turnkey AI video analytics took top honors for its capabilities to search, alert and provide insight across hundreds of cameras within 3 seconds. Paul Sun, CEO and founder of IronYun, was a strong competitor entering the competition, as a serial entrepreneur with multiple successes in venture capital-funded companies. He was the President of Avidia Systems, Inc, Motia, Inc and Chairman & CTO of DSL.net, Inc.
“On behalf of the IronYun team, I would like to thank X-Pitch for hosting the successful 2021 event. IronYun is humbled and honored to win the gold award among the many great startup companies from around the world,” said Paul Sun, President/CEO of IronYun. “IronYun has benefited by participating in the X-Pitch, for example, we have already received an investment term sheet. Our team are excited and look forward to building a world class company to make the world a safer place”.
Ten startups emerged as winners at the Grand Finale with the top three startups each receiving a US $1 million investment. The Silver Award for Startup of the Year went to Dayta AI based in Hong Kong and Biomdcare based in Taiwan took Bronze.
3,680 startups in 42 countries entered the competition and over a thousand people attended the event that was broadcast live via a range of online platforms that included e27, Meet Startup, Startup Island and PitchFlix.
The event also served as a major announcement for the launch of a new VC accelerator XCEL NEXT that will have operations in Taipei, Singapore and Silicon Valley. The leadership team of Kevin Yu and managing partners James Ku, Brent Hu and Jason Liu have set very ambitious goals to invest and accelerate 100 startups in Asia and around the world over the next 3 years.
“With the number of participating countries and startups, X-PITCH has become one of the world’s largest startup competitions in its first year and is probably the most challenging one in the contest format, wherein participants went through the 15-second, 60-second and 3-minute pitch to win awards and investments,” said Yu, the organizer of X-PITCH 2021. “This X Games for Startups enables founders to revisit their business and tell their story in a more precise way. X-PITCH is also a platform for global startups, investors, corporates, and ecosystem builders to connect with each other”.
In addition to winning the grand prize, participants benefitted from activities and resources that included investor & corporate matchmaking program, country access webinars, valuation & fundraising workshops, online exhibitions, and media exposure.
