On June 15, the Austin Young Chamber hosted the virtual Austin Fast Start pitch competition for Austin based, early startups in the Internet of Things industry. The Austin Fast Start pitch competition is a partnership with the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department with support from 3 Day Startup. The event is also sponsored by the Texas McCombs MBA and MSTC Programs. The virtual event was kicked off by the evening’s emcee, Sylvia Butanda, AYC Board Member and Deputy Director of Latinitas.

For this competition, Internet of Things was defined as solutions that transform the way we live and work by leveraging the interconnection between everyday objects and internet connectivity. Internet of Things businesses use increased connectivity, data, algorithms, and/or automation to improve services and enable things like smart cities, smart homes, and more. These ground-breaking businesses work to solve real problems that impact people.

Applications were accepted in May, judges representing the small business, startup, and IoT communities scored the applications in June, and four Finalists participated in the pitch competition. We want to thank our IoT Judges – Nick Chagin, Program Manager at 3 Day Startup; Chelsea Collier, Founder of Digi.City; Will Griffin, Chief Ethics Officer at Hypergiant; and Paul O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer at MediaTech Ventures – for their time and expertise during this competition.

The four Finalists included Anka Labs, JOYKEEPER, Parasanti, and Winter Haven Capital. Each finalist took the virtual stage on Zoom with five minutes to pitch their business idea to both our judges and audience for a chance to win $2,500 in cash plus $5,000 in in-kind prizes.

After four presentations and four rounds of exceptional Q&A, the scores came in. The Austin Young Chamber is honored to announce the winner of the Austin Fast Start for IoT… Parasanti!

Pitched by Head of Business Development Max Adams, Parasanti is a veteran and farmer led AI/ML company dedicated to placing advanced analytical tools into the hands of those who traditionally have not had access to them. Their flagship product pulls data from any targeted location on the farm and processes it at the edge without the need for a cloud or even bandwidth availability. Insights are then delivered to a user friendly interface that can be accessed on any type of device and provides alerts and notifications as well.

Congratulations to all the finalists on their truly excellent pitches and business ideas, and congrats to Parasanti!