SXSW Eco Announces 2016 Startup Showcase Finalists and Sessions

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --­ SXSW Eco®, the conference celebrating the power of design, technology and business to drive global change, has announced the finalists for the 2016 Startup Showcase and select Startup Showcase programming sessions. SXSW Eco takes place on October 10-12, 2016 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX.

The Startup Showcase, now in its fifth year, is a pitch competition spotlighting innovative early stage companies in the areas of: Energy, Food + Agriculture, Internet of Things + Software, Social Impact, Reuse + Recycling and Water.

Forty-six finalists, eight per category, were selected from around the world to present at the conference. The Finalists will pitch in front of a live audience and panel of judges from top VC firms and corporations, ranging from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, National Science Foundation to Target.

In the past four years, participating companies have gone on to raise over $70M, acquire global brands as clients, and develop other significant business relationships. The 2015 class of Startup Showcase Finalists has already raised over $12M in funding since last October.

Full list of the 2016 Startup Showcase Finalists:

Energy
Aquanta Inc.( McLean, VA), Louisiana Technical Instruments (Covington, LA), NETenergy (Chicago, IL), SkyCool Systems (San Francisco, CA), Solstice Initiative (Boston, MA) T-REX (New York City, NY), Windlift (Raleigh, NC), XStream (San Francisco Bay Area, CA).

Food + Agriculture
Bitwater Farms (California/North Carolina), Cerplus (San Francisco, CA), Farm from a Box (San Francisco, CA), Grow Bioplastics (Knoxville, TN), HerdDogg (Ashland, OR), Land Life Company (Amsterdam, Netherlands), MetaMixis (Prospect Bio) (Palo Alto, CA), SabrTech Inc. (Nova Scotia, Canada).

Internet of Things + Software
Cityflag (San Antonio, TX), ECO-OS Inc. (South Padre Island, TX), Eko Devices Inc. (San Francisco, CA), KrafftIT (Inhale) (Los Altos, CA), Neopenda (Chicago, IL), Velo-Labs (San Francisco, CA), Senseware Inc. (McLean, VA), Sutro (San Francisco, CA).

Social Impact
Ascendant Dx (Springdale, AR), Biorealize (Philadelphia, PA), DayOne Response, Inc. (San Francisco, CA), LittleSun GmbH (Berlin, Germany), Miraculum, Inc. (Austin, TX), The Tycycler (Nigeria/Kenya/ Tanzania/South Africa), TheraB Medical (Lansing, MI), Wecyclers (Lagos, Nigeria).

Reuse + Recycling
Agri-Tech Producers, LLC (ATP) (Columbia, SC), Alkemy Environmental (Boston, MA), Bureo Inc (Redondo Breach, CA), CleanRobotics (Pittsburgh, PA), Industrial/Organic (New York, NY), OPTIMYS (Dallas, TX), Smarter Sorting (Austin, TX), Vartega Carbon Fiber Recycling LLC (Denver, CO).

Water
Crystal Clear Technologies, Inc. (Portland, OR), Nutrient Recovery and Upcycling, LLC (Madison, WI), Proper Pipe Inc. (Boston, MA), Pure Watercraft, Inc. (Seattle, WA), Sprinkl.io LLC (Dallas, TX), Sourcewater (Houston, TX), Viroment USA (Woodbury, MN), WAVVE (Houston, TX).

To see more about each company and descriptions of the projects, please visit sxsweco.com/startup-showcase.

Startup Central also announced the addition of new sessions featuring leading investors, representatives from top accelerators, proven entrepreneurs and policy makers:

Beyond VC: Finding the Right Fundraising Model
Speakers: Benjamin Gaddy (Clean Energy Trust), Jennifer Garson (DOE), Sarah Cone (Social Impact Capital).

Friends or Foes: How Startups + Regulators Navigate Innovation
Speakers: Bradley Tusk (Tusk Ventures), Macky McCleary (State of Rhode Island), Komal Ahmad (COPIA), Rob McGinnis (Nagare Water).

Open Innovation: Disrupting Climate Change
Speakers: Alex Amouyel (MIT SOLVE), Laur Hesse Fisher (MIT Climate Colab).

Will Agtech Help Scale Up Sustainable Food + Farming?
Speakers: Naomi Starkman (Civil Eats), Sam Kass (TROVE, Acre Venture Partners), Mike Betts (AgFunder).

The Street of the Future
Speakers: Julian Spector (Greentech Media), Zach Barasz (Kleiner Perkins), Veronica Juarez (Lyft), Ryan Popple (Proterra).

The full schedule for Startup Central can be viewed here: schedule.sxsweco.com/.

About SXSW Eco
SXSW Eco creates a space for business leaders, investors, innovators and designers to advance solutions that drive economic, environmental and social change. The conference will feature collaborative events to facilitate direct connections, as well as focused panel sessions and exciting competitions that will introduce attendees to transformative technologies, policies, products and ideas. sxsweco.com

SXSW Eco 2016 is sponsored by Austin Energy, Austin Recycling Economic Development Program, Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), Bloomberg BNA, Cool Effect, Southwest Airlines, The Austin Chronicle and Timshel.

Press Credentials: If you are a member of the press and interested in attending, media registration for SXSW Eco 2016 is now open through September 23, 2016.

Please visit http://sxsweco.com/about/press for more information.

Contact:

Brett Cannon
SXSW Eco Press & Publicity
[email protected]

SOURCE SXSW Eco

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