2018 SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event Winners Announced Including Nanowear as “Best in Show”

Pinpointing their customers’ pain points is typically the starting point for startups. But just as imperative for many of the 50 companies pitching in ten categories during the tenth annual Dash-presented SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event is making a positive social impact within global communities.

Fortunately, we all benefit from forward-thinking minds and cutting-edge technology aimed at solving worldwide problems in sectors like transportation, cybersecurity and encryption, and social good. View the list of finalists and alternates here.

Congratulations to this year's ten category winners as well as Best in Show, Best Bootstrap, and Best Speed Pitch, who were announced at the SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event Awards Ceremony after the two-day competition.

2018 SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event Winners

Transportation
GoKid
New York, NY
GoKid is the complete carpool solution for schools, teams, and families.

Social and Culture
ICON 3D
Austin, TX
ICON is a construction-technology company currently working toward building the first up-to-code 3D printed home in the United States (using concrete as substrate).

Enterprise and Smart Data
DroneSeed
Seattle, WA
DroneSeed provides precision forestry services to timber companies & non-profits.

Augmented and Virtual Reality
ARWall
Los Angeles, CA
We’ve created an AR display that requires no headset, no goggles, no smart device.

Hyper-Connected Communities
GrubTubs
Austin, TX
GrubTubs solves for the overabundance of food waste coming from restaurants by creating a nutrient-rich animal feed that is affordable for local family farms.

Security and Privacy
PolyPort
Atlanta, GA
PolyPort is 3D asset protection, management, and delivery company, which employs proprietary encryption technology to facilitate an end-to-end solution for 3D designers.

Payment and FinTech
FutureFuel.io
Boston, MA
FutureFuel.io makes student debt repayment easy – for employers, platforms, and users.

Sports and Performance Data
Nix
Boston, MA
Nix is taking the guessing out of hydration with a single-use sweat analytics patch that tells athletes, soldiers, and laborers their hydration status and electrolyte losses in real-time.

Entertainment and Content
Vochlea Music
London, England
At Vochlea Music we’re developing real-time vocal recognition technology for music creation.

Health and Wearables
Nanowear
New York, NY
Nanowear is a New York-based connected-self technology platform for diagnostics and disease management based on proprietary cloth-based nanosensors and analytics.

Best Bootstrap Company (the company who has done the most with least)
Leaf
Nashville, TN
Leaf provides financial services to the stateless and excluded by creating a virtual bank through blockchain technology.

Best in Show
Nanowear
New York, NY
Nanowear is a New York-based connected-self technology platform for diagnostics and disease management based on proprietary cloth-based nanosensors and analytics.

Best Speed Pitch
Roots Studio
Boston, MA
Roots Studio digitizes the creative content of traditional artists from remote areas with the global $32 billion art, interior décor, and design licensing markets.

If you missed any of the pitches this weekend you can still meet each of the 50 finalists at the “Accelerator Demo Day” on Monday, March 12, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Salon C on the 4th floor at the Hilton Hotel.

The SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event is supported by Stoke Denton, The Wall Street Journal, and WorldFirst. Congratulations to all the winners, participants, and judges from this year’s SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event. And we hope to see you at SXSW Accelerator Demo Day!

Contributed by Tamara Bell