Startup World Cup 2024: $1 million grand award goes to EarthGrid
08 Oct 2024Pegasus Ventures hosted the Grand Finale of the Startup World Cup 2024 on October 4, 2024, which took place in San Francisco and ended with an intense pitch battle in San Francisco. A public service-oriented company of San Francisco, EarthGrid PBC LLC, won the prestigious prize making it shy of Beautiful Locations for Startups One year foursquare of $1 million. This year's Grand Finale became a stormy finale of the international competition as thousands of start-ups sought for and took the first place in Silicon Valley.
New Boring Technology at EarthGrid: Plasma Tunnel Boring Machine
EarthGrid PBC, the winner of the prestigious award for which the board of the company put up a prize of 1 million dollars, made a breakthrough in infrastructure construction with innovative plasma tunneling technologies. Their proprietary technology is capable of revolutionizing how utilities build electricity grids in the US and around the world by constructing utility subway systems that are quicker and cheaper to build. As overdue infrastructure issues trouble governments all over the world, EarthGrid technology is perceived as a game-changing solution for the US and other countries’ electricity transmission grid upgrades.
A Glocal Contest Entrance in Silicon Valley's Core
The Startup World Cup, which was initiated by Pegasus Tech Ventures in 2016, has become the largest competitive event for startups on this planet. It draws competitors from about one hundred cities in six continents. This Grand finale event was organized this year at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco, attracting more than 2500 participants including entrepreneurs, investors and tech lovers.
Not only for the fact that the winner would take home the grand prize, in the competition they want to make the most remarkable startups in the world present their most original ideas. 84 regional winners made it to the semi-final held on October 2 from which 10 finalists emerged representing more than 50 countries.
Meet the Top Finalists
However, although the top award went to EarthGrid PBC, other finalists who had inspired with their innovations also received awards in other categories:
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Alterno (Vietnam) – Awarded 2nd place, Alterno harnesses carbon emissions through its thermal storage technology deployable in agriculture, industrial and residential sectors.
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ivwatch (Virginia Beach, USA) – Clinched 3rd place with an IV site monitoring technology that has FDA and CE clearance for use in nowhere on Earth.
Among the other finalists who shone were descendants of Israeli, Hong Kong, Japanese, Canadian, and American start-ups whose innovations cut across Health, Sustainability, AI and other Industries.
An Occasion Unmatched by other in Terms of Prominent Individuals Within the Tech Industry
The Startup World Cup held this year was not merely an event; there was also a global conference with famous speakers and venture capitalists. In attendance were Robert Herjavec who gained fame from Shark Tank, Tim Draper, and other executives from leading tech companies like Salesforce, IBM, NVIDIA, Tinder and Roblox. Ideas around entrepreneurship, technology, and the future of innovations were elaborated by these industry practitioners presenting a learning and networking opportunity for attendees.
A Panel of Elite Judges
Venture Capitalists from NEA, Samsung Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures completed the judging panel. Some of these investors were particularly focused on the disruptive power of the startups while others looked for impact or scalability criteria. It was much heated competitively, with a majority of the startups from the US and others battling fiercely to make it to the Top 10, with a zeal to address real-world challenges with innovative technology.
Pegasus Tech Ventures: An Unseen Hand Behind the Organization of the Startup World Cup
Pegasus Tech Ventures, the organizer of Startup World Cup, is among the world’s most active venture capital firms, managing over US$2 billion worth of investments. Out of Silicon Valley, Pegasus invests monetary resources as well as intellectual resources to help startups grow. The firm offers a unique model of Venture Capital which is called Venture Capital as a Service (VCaaS), which internally persuades large corporations to partner with nascent tech companies and reminds people of a vast chain of cutting-edge technologies. Operating deep in the innovation ecosystem, Pegasus building partnerships with companies like SEGA, ASUS, Niterra and others promotes innovation and entrepreneurship across the globe.
Looking Forward: The Future of Startups
The 2024 Startup World Cup reinforced once again that geographical constraints and restrictions do not apply to the process of seeking new solutions. It has to be noted that this year’s competition was another confirmation of the fact that there are no boundaries to innovation. There is always that possibility of establishing a successful startup from any part of the globe and having it successfully compete in the global marketplace. This utterance was as well made during the whole event, motivating almost every entrepreneur to keep growing, risk themselves and stretch the limits of what can be accomplished.
The EarthGrid PBC won the trend this year as we look forward to new waves of innovative startups that will seek out the year 2025 in competition to be called the next global change maker.
Final Thoughts
The Startup World Cup 2024 was an inspirational event that displayed the tenets of entrepreneurship, the spirit of innovation and active global networking. EarthGrid PBC outdoes itself with its plasma tunneling boring technology, which is a great step on the way of progress. Their win indicates that being sustainable, scalable, and having progressive solutions are now prerequisites in the world marketplace. As Pegasus Tech Ventures keeps raising the flag for startups around the globe, so does the level of innovation.
See you at the next round of the Startup World Cup and Tejinder World, where top startups in the world will be again battling out for glory, investments and the opportunity to impact the future.
For more information on Pegasus Tech Ventures and the Startup World Cup, visit:
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