Recently, some of the country’s most innovative startups competed at the Startup World Cup Silicon Valley Regional Competition, held at the Computer History Museum on August 1, 2024. At this well-regarded event, Earthgrid, which develops plasma tunnel boring robots to build a network of understand utility tunnels, was declared the winner. The company was one of 16 finalists, and Earthgrid is now set to compete at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale, which takes place on October 4, 2024, in San Francisco. The Grand Finale winner will receive a $1 million investment prize.
Pegasus Tech Ventures, a prominent Silicon Valley-based global venture capital firm, organized the event. Pegasus invests on behalf of corporations around the world using the Venture Capital-as-a-Service model, which outsources startup investments to an experienced investor. At the competition, a panel of independent venture capital investors judged the finalists’ pitches, ultimately declaring Earthgrid the winner.
“We are delighted by the quality and enthusiasm of the entrepreneurs who competed,” said Anis Uzzaman, Founder and CEO of Pegasus Tech Ventures, who created the Startup World Cup competition in 2016. “Each year we are impressed by the quality of startups who apply and compete. I look forward to seeing Earthgrid on the Grand Finale stage.”
In 2023, Japanese Startup Aillis was declared the champion at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale. Aillis is a machine-learning-based AI company that uses pharyngeal images instead of specimens collected by swab to make accurate and early influenza detection possible.
The Grand Finale has confirmed well-known speakers including Robert Herjavec (ABC’s Shark Tank Star), Tim Draper (Founding Partner of Draper Associates & DFJ), Suzanne DiBianca (Chief Impact Officer of Salesforce), Faye Iosotaluno (CEO of Tinder), Daniel Danker (Chief Product Officer of Instacart), and others are confirmed to speak at the Grand Finale on October 4, 2024 in San Francisco. More than 2,500 startups, corporate executives, and investors are expected to attend the event.
Startup World Cup is a global conference and competition whose goal is to bridge startup ecosystems worldwide. This year, there will be approximately 100+ regional events across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, leading up to the Grand Finale in San Francisco in September.
Grand Finale Event Details
The Startup World Cup 2024 Grand Finale will take place on October 4, 2024, at the San Francisco Hilton Union Square. Click here for tickets, and check out the grand finale highlights video.
