LAS VEGAS, Jan. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- XTC 2018 Semi-Finals - Bellini Ballroom, Venetian Las Vegas - Preeminent force in the entrepreneurial world and the adventure of a lifetime for emergent startups, Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) made its fourth annual stop at CES® 2018 to announce the Top 3 Finalists moving to the last stage of the competition. Accelerating past countless enterprises for the opportunity to present their concepts on stage, XTC 2018's Top 3 cover a wide range of progressive, global markets including Sustainability, Data & Analytics, Blockchain, IoT and Healthcare.
Having crossed land, sea, and air, in addition to ten other worthy competitors, the XTC 2018 Top 3 Finalists are healthcare platform and baby monitoring system Owlet Baby Care (Leith, Utah), blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading platform Power Ledger (Perth, Australia) and smart action, AI-powered camera system Revl (San Francisco, CA) -- Congratulations to XTC 2018's Top 3!
Hard work has paid off for this dynamic trio, with each competitor expressing excitement as they look ahead to the final round:
"We're so grateful to be part of such an amazing event that's celebrating companies who are using technology to solve the world's biggest problems! We're excited about making the top 3 and the awareness that will bring to parents." - Kurt Workman, Owlet Baby Care Co-founder
"We are delighted to make it to the XTC this finals. Thank you to the Power Ledger team and community for making this possible. We are very excited to pitch to Sir Richard Branson on Necker and the opportunity to fast track our mission of the democratisation of power!" - Dr Jemma Green, Founder of Power Ledger
"We are so stoked to make it to the the finals and have the opportunity to present Revl to such incredible judges! Looking forward to kiting with Sir Richard and showing him the latest version of Revl!" - Eric Sanchez, Co-Founder, Revl
Chosen for their ingenuity and impactful pitches, the fate of the Semi-Finalists rested in the capable hands of Lars Rasmussen (CTO, Weav Music, Co- creator Google Maps), Young Sohn (President & Chief Strategy Officer Samsung Electronics & Chairman of the Board HARMAN) Koichi Narasaki (Chief Digital Officer, Sompo Holdings) and Scott Robinson (Founder, Plug and Play) and this year's FinTech Vertical Judge, led for the fourth year by Gary Shapiro (President and CEO of Consumer Technology Association).
Finalists of XTC 2018 now look ahead to the last stop of this year's challenge, taking place on Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island, where they will pitch one final time to the tech industry's biggest luminaries, spearheaded by Sir Richard Branson in hopes of winning the ultimate prize of global visibility and invaluable resources, and, of course, the title of XTC 2018 Champion.
In light of the recent natural disasters that have devastated the British Virgin Islands, Necker Island included, the XTC 2018 Finals have been rescheduled to take place this Fall 2018, formally announced in an official statement from XTC Co-Founder, Bill Tai:
"Today we announce the official date change of XTC 2018 Finals to this Fall 2018 on Necker Island, BVI. The Extreme Tech Challenge was born on Necker Island four years ago and returns to its birthplace for the finals year after year. 2017 proved to be a challenging year for the island community and after several months, the British Virgin Islands are still recovering from the devastating effects of hurricanes Irma and Maria. Rather than leave or change the location for the XTC Finals during its most vulnerable time, we have made the decision to stick with Necker Island as the community works to rebuild in conjunction with ACTAI Global and XTC. We are so grateful to have the continued support of Sir Richard Branson as we move towards another amazing challenge. Join us in our continued support of the BVI community."
Extreme Tech Challenge would like to recognize the Top 10 Semi-Finalists who participated at this year's CES® Showcase -- Congratulations and thank you for sharing your innovations with the world! ABRA (Mountain View, CA), AirSwap (Brooklyn, NY), Chooose.today (Oslo, Norway), Neurotrack (Redwood, CA), Owlet Baby Care (Lehi, UT), Power Ledger (Perth, Australia), Rayton Solar (Los Angeles, CA), Revl (San Francisco, CA), SafeMotos (Kigali, Rwanda), Tissue Analytics (Philadelphia, PA) and 2018 Wildcard, Piaggio Fast Forward (Boston, MA).
Also acknowledged on stage during the CES® 2018 Showcase were the winners of the Vertical Categories, hosted by the 2018 Sponsors IBM (Cloud), Sompo Holdings (Healthcare IT, BioTech),Ally & Plug and Play (FinTech), OWC (Sustainability), Zoom (Productivity), Jungle Creations (Social Media), Cisco (IoT), Qualcomm (VR), and Meltwater (Data & Analytics). Full details on 2018 Vertical Sponsors found here.
Congratulations to the 2018 Vertical Prize Winners: REVL (Social Media), Chipsafer (IoT), BioWatch (Data & Analytics), Vizru (FinTech), BluAtomVR (VR/AR), Sky Tree (Sustainability), ReviveMed (BioTech), Tissue Analytics (IBM Cloud Credit), Kafoodle (Healthcare IT), BioCellection (Productivity),
CES Accessibility Prize Winners: Blind Touch / Project Ray, Lili Smart, SignAll, SofiHub, and Unaliwear.
Although the finals for this year will be delayed, XTC will continue to move forward with applications for its next iteration - Applications open April 2018. Since its inception, XTC has gained international notoriety for elevating innovative startups into a new frontier of technology. Who will be crowned the next champion of XTC?
STAY CONNECTED: XTC
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
About Extreme Tech Challenge
Extreme Tech Challenge is a competition that empowers entrepreneurs and their companies by providing visibility, resources, and it gives competitors the ability to grow exponentially in scale and knowledge at a low to no incremental cost. XTC strives to inspire and provide growth to up and coming entrepreneurs and businesses by surrounding them with mentors to help guide them as they build on product success with business success.
XTC pulls this all together into an experience that money cannot buy with showcase events at the world's largest technology trade show, CES, and also at Sir Richard Branson's own Necker Island.
Hurricane Irma Relief:
XTC alongside Richard Branson and The Virgin Group continue to do everything possible to support and assist the local BVI community that they call home. Please explore the various donation options & spread awareness to Richard Branson's efforts with Virgin and their support of the BVI relief fund . By covering all of Virgin Unite's Hurricane relief overheads, Richard Branson and the Virgin Group have made it possible for 100% of the donations received directly to the local BVI communities.
Media Contact:
The Confluence
publicity@theconfluencegroup.com
SOURCE Extreme Tech Challenge
