Philippine Startups Show Grit on BeFast.tv’s Pitch Tournament

Last August 29, I witnessed BeFast.TV’s first ever pitching tournament called “Your Way 2 Silicon Valley”. The Tournament was held at Alphaland Makati Place. As a part of the startup community, pitching your business to investors regularly happens as it is a necessity. Watching a lot of Shark Tank, I gained insights to giving a successful pitch but watching the tournament in person was a good validation.

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BeFast 02A representative from Still Fresh pitching their product

What’s really exciting was the prize for the winner of the tournament—an all-expense paid trip to Silicon Valley and an opportunity to get connected to VCs (venture capitalists), accelerators, and incubators to further expand their business. As a fan of HBO’s Silicon Valley (Go Pied Piper!), seeing how a startup try to get funding is a very nerve-wracking but also exhilarating task. Seeing the importance of network in the Valley, BeFast.tv’s commitment to helping the winning startup will greatly ease the effort of raising funds and gaining knowledge to make the business grow.

BeFast 03Blogapalooza, a platform connecting businesses to social influencers

The tournament was simple and fast. Sixteen selected startups competed in a single elimination bracket style tournament wherein each group has one minute to introduce their business and address the round’s theme.

BeFast 04Veer, discussing their VR technology app

The startups came from different verticals or industries which gave the tournament very diverse matchups as the tournament progressed.

BeFast 05QWIKWIRE on their payments platform

Here are the startups that made the cut: Blogapalooza, Orbitrr, Dibz, Ground Gurus, Exora, Veer, JazzyPay, Still Fresh, QWIKWIRE, Leverage, Product IO, Restograph, Job Pyramid, Fetch Valet, UPROOT, and Urban Green.

BeFast 07Product IO on their inventory platform

After 15 rounds of short pitches and a deep deliberation of the judges, the first champion of the pitching tournament was crowned. The winning startup was VeeR!

Here are some highlights of their pitch.

BeFast 01Congratulations Veer!

Veer pitched a very practical application of Virtual Reality Technology. They used VR to create a training platform for airlines personnel. They provide simulations for cabin crews for immersive training for different scenarios that may happen inside a plane. They employ a subscription model for airlines wherein each personnel is signed up on their platform. Their target market is global, so expansion and scaling are well thought out.

Good luck to Veer Technologies and we hope that they gain a lot of knowledge and funding as well to give PH startup here a spark of inspiration. May you pioneer the way that the Philippines can produce a unicorn!

Your Way 2 Silicon Valley