
<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2018-pitch-winner-wayve-recently-secured-an-incredible-round-of-funding-so-what-are-some-of-the-other-big-successes-to-come-from-our-pitch-competition">2018 PITCH winner Wayve recently secured an incredible round of funding. So what are some of the other big successes to come from our PITCH competition?</h3>



<p>Since beginning Web Summit’s startup competition PITCH back in 2013, there have been 21 winners from around the world. Many have gone on to great success in the tech world.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Collectively, the PITCH winners have raised more than US$1.5 billion, as well as increasing their employee numbers, customer base, and product offerings.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Here’s the story of just some of the PITCH winners that went on to receive significant investments, and continued to grow their businesses.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-early-winners">The early winners</h4>



<p>Web Summit’s first ever PITCH winner was <a href="http://import.io">Import.io</a>, taking the top prize at the 2013 Dublin event. It is a London-founded web data platform which aids data extraction. At the time of the event, Import.io employed 16 people and, since then, that number has risen to more than 70.&nbsp;</p>



<p>On winning, co-founder Andrew Fogg stated, “We are focused on growing our company and it means a lot to us to win an international competition like this.”</p>



<p>The growth Andrew alluded to has played out, with the company raising more than US$38 million in 2018 before being acquired by Texas-based SaaS growth fund Scaleworks in 2023.&nbsp;</p>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Web Summit 2014 Day Three -  Pitch Competition Finalists: Codacy" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HinOcCZdj94?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p>Another successful PITCH winner, <a href="https://www.codacy.com/">Codacy</a> took the award the following year, in 2014.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Codacy is a DevOps intelligence platform that helps developers ship billions of lines of code per day by automating and standardising code reviews.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The Portuguese startup has raised US$29.4 million, closing a US$15 million Series B funding round in September 2022.&nbsp;</p>



<p>At the time of Codacy’s PITCH win, co-founder Jaime Jorge described it as “like the Oscars for startups in Europe”. Since participating, Codacy has grown from 3,000 to 6,000 users around the world.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Collision glory</h4>



<p>PITCH is a competition run across all of Web Sumit’s events, including Collision in North America. It is here that some of our most successful alumni have come from.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In 2018, San Francisco-based personal coaching platform <a href="https://torch.io/">Torch</a> won PITCH at Collision in New Orleans, beating out 108 others. It has gone on to become a leading people development platform, raising almost US$90 million to date.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Torch closed out a US$25 million Series B round in 2021, before raising a further US$40 million Series C round in 2022 from 137 investors, including&nbsp; Initialized Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Obvious Ventures, all also Web Summit and Collision participants.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://websummit.com/wp-media/2024/05/28003517488_c6cff3524f_k-1024x682.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-89127"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cameron Yarbrough, co-founder and CEO of Torch, with the PITCH trophy at Collision 2018 in New Orelans</figcaption></figure>



<p>Cameron Yarbrough, co-founder and CEO of Torch, said of PITCH that “[it] provided me an electrifying opportunity to evangelize my startup in front of thousands of technologists and VCs.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Collision moved on from New Orleans soon after, with fellow US-based startup <a href="https://www.loliware.com/">Loliware</a> taking the first PITCH trophy awarded at our Toronto event. Loliware is a woman-led, environmentally focussed startup using seaweed resin to replace single use plastics.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Winning Pitch is an incredibly exciting milestone for Loliware,” said co-founder and CEO of Loliware, Chelsea F. Briganti at the time.</p>



<p>Loliware has since secured investment from Mark Cuban and Closed Loop Ventures as well as partnerships with Marriott and Pernod. In 2023, the company also closed out a pre-Series A funding round with US$6 million, bringing their total funding to more than US$15.6 million.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Recent raises</h4>



<p>A standout success story is Wayve. In 2018 Alex Kendall, co-founder of the self-driving car tech startup, said “winning PITCH at Web Summit sends a strong signal to the market as we enter into our next fundraising round and validates that others are as excited as we are about this opportunity.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>In May, 2024 the company secured more than US$1 billion in a funding round led by Japan’s SoftBank, and including tech behemoths Microsoft and Nvidia.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://websummit.com/wp-media/2024/05/45059313664_69ee8c0cf6_k-1024x701.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-89128"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Alex Kendall, co-founder at Wayve, with the PITCH trophy on Centre Stage at Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon.</figcaption></figure>



<p>Elsewhere, an AI startup that helps textile manufacturers to significantly reduce waste and improve their environmental impact, <a href="https://www.smartex.ai/">Smartex</a> took top prize at Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It feels good to get recognition for the work the team at Smartex has been doing,” said António Rocha, co-founder of the Portuguese startup, upon collecting the award.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We know the real pitch happens with our clients, and that&#8217;s where our focus is.”</p>



<p>Since winning the competition, Smartex has raised US$27.6 million, through investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, H&amp;M Group and DCVC.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-for-your-shot-at-pitch-success-join-our-startup-programme-alpha-today">For your shot at PITCH success, <a href="https://websummit.com/startups/">join our startup programme ALPHA</a> today.</h4>



<p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2pfYUbt"><em>Main image</em></a><em> of a Henrique Ferreira, co-founder and CXO at Inspira, on Centre Stage during PITCH finals at Web Summit 2023: </em><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/websummitrio/"><em>Harry Murphy</em></a><em>/</em><a href="https://rio.websummit.com/blog/news/jp-morgan-payments-cash-cashless/websummit.com"><em>Web Summit</em></a><em> (</em><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/"><em>(CC BY 2.0)</em></a><em>)</em></p>


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