21 February 2023 — Five innovative space companies are among 100 impressive startups selected to compete for a share of US$1 million at the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) Global Finals. The finals are set to take place March 9-12 at Biban 2023, the largest event for entrepreneurs and small-to-medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia.
The five companies selected from across the world are:
- Agmetrix (Morocco) - predictive mapping based on cutting edge ML and HPC for spatio-temporal prediction.
- Kombuta (South Africa) – Edge-computing for small satellites, enabling near real-time inference of ML models and mitigating limitations in download bandwidth and power scarcity.
- Agroxchange (Nigeria) - Increasing farmer incomes by multiplying crop yield, using a combination of GPS farm boundary mapping, satellite crop monitoring, and GAPs.
- Paraloon (Germany) – designing a robust network of Space-Based Solar Power satellites with parabolic balloons which reflect light into thermo-photovoltaic cells.
- Promin Aerospace (Ukraine) - builds self-burning rockets to enable the most rapid dedicated access to space, atmosphere, and microgravity.
The Entrepreneurship World Cup, co-hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority in Saudi Arabia, Monsha’at, is one of the largest and most diverse pitch competitions and support programs for up-and-coming founders. Every year, entrepreneurs compete for a share of US$1 million in cash prizes and millions more worth of investment, support and publicity.
“These companies and their founders have wowed us at every stage of the competition,” said Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network. “They are on course to change lives with innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”
The 100 finalists, known collectively as the EWC 100, were selected after succeeding in qualifier competitions and activities around the world. The top performing 250 companies were invited to participate in a three-day bootcamp, with 100 selected to pitch at the Global Finals.
The EWC 100 are based in: Africa (6), Asia (17), Europe (28), Middle East (12), North America (14), Oceania (2), South America (20) and the Caribbean (1).
While in Riyadh, the EWC 100 will experience Saudi Arabia’s emerging startup scene. In recent years, the ecosystem has seen transformational growth, reporting record highs in venture capital investments in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
In addition to competing for the grand $300,000 prize, startups will also vie in specialized categories based on sector (including tech and space and sustainability and environment) and impact (including social impact, sustainable development goals and women-led companies).
All 100 global finalists will receive $100,000 in in-kind services from partners such as AWS, Freshworks, Google Cloud, Hubspot, Stripe, Zoom and more.
The Entrepreneurship World Cup is made possible with support from a collection of national and global partners including One Valley, The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), Entrepreneurs’ Organization, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology and Startup Genome. The Misk Foundation is a founding partner.