The finalists for the 12th annual SXSW Pitch competition have been announced and a couple Vancouver companies are in the mix.
The pitch competition, presented by Target Accelerator, takes places on March 14-15 at the Hilton Auston Downtown in front of a live audience with a panel of expert judges with categories in various sectors of emerging technology.
Vancouver’s AVA Technologies is a finalist in the Consumer Technology & CPG category. The agtech startup is responsible for the AVA Byte, the world’s smallest indoor garden that promises to unlock the green thumb in anyone.
AVA founder Valerie Song has plenty of pitch experience going into SXSW. In 2019, AVA was named a Top Pick at TechCrunch’s Disrupt in San Francisco and was a finalist in Trend Micro’s popular Forward Thinker Award competition at CES.
Musician Dan Mangan’s Side Door has been named an alternate. Side Door is an online platform that matches artists with spaces to create shows anytime, anywhere.
According to Mangan, in its simplest form it’s like Airbnb but for shows. “Any space is a venue, this room is a venue, your living room, your backyard, bookstore, warehouse, juice factory, any space”.
SXSW Pitch judges include some names that will be familiar with Techcouver readers including Austin cyclist turned investor Lance Armstrong and Canada’s own Patrick Lor of Panache Ventures.