12 finalists announced for Pitch@Palace 7.0

Pitch@Palace has announced the 12 finalists that will take place in this month’s final at St James’s Palace on 25 April.

Founded by HRH The Duke of York in 2014, Pitch@Palce gives technology businesses the opportunity to showcase their ideas to an audience of CEOs, angel investors, venture capitalists, mentors and potential business partners who could help take their business to the next level.

Startups 100-listed Tech Will Save Us is amongst this year’s finalists. Founded by husband and wife team Bethany Koby and Daniel Hirschmann, the company provides a variety of kits that enable kids and adults to build basic and advanced gadgets including a speaker, a simple games console and an electro dough kit.

The theme for Pitch@Palace 7.0 is ‘human tech’, with concepts exploring the potential of technology to improve our everyday lives. The 12 finalists are:

• BLINK: Humanising Autonomy – a device for autonomous vehicles that communicates vehicle intent and allows pedestrians to influence its decisions
• BrainwaveBank – a device to enable consumers to access daily at-home brain health monitoring
• Caervest – a company providing ultra-early cooling to ‘heat compromised’ patients in remote locations
• CENTURYTech – an artificial intelligence concept that provides learners with a personalised learning experience and educators with real-time data insights
• Desolenator – clean technology that can transform seawater or contaminated water into low cost drinking water using solar power
• Limitless Travel – a company using technology to improve travel for people with disabilities
• OpenBionics – creates smart prosthetics for children with limb differences to transform them into their favourite superheroes
• Oxford Heartbeat – technology that claims to make cardiovascular surgery more accurate and safe by enabling clinicians to rehears surgeries and choose the most suitable option for their patients
• SafetyNet Technologies LTD – technology that helps fisherman lower by-catch by 90%, which saves fish and protects stocks for the future
• Smartify – an app that uses advanced image-recognition and augmented reality to help users discover stories behind art
• Tech Will Save Us – a digital toolkit that enables anyone to construct a variety of gadgets from scratch
• TryLife – a platform that creates interactive films where users can make life choices on behalf of film characters to see the consequences of their actions

The Duke of York commented: “I am immensely proud of the achievements of the Entrepreneurs in the Pitch@Palace 7.0 programme. In less than three years, there have been over 500 pitches at events all over the United Kingdom and they have shone a light on the diversity and imagination across the country, clearly demonstrating that pursuing an idea or dream can be realised with knowledge and determination. I wish all those taking part in the People’s Choice Award and the final of Pitch 7.0, every success.”

Wes Sugden-Brook, Founder and Managing Director of Drenched Ltd and winner of Pitch@Palace 6.0, said: “The Pitch@Palace process was fantastic from start to finish and is simply unique within the world of business and entrepreneurship.

“It enabled me to meet some incredible mentors whilst making connections that I simply couldn’t have envisaged a year ago – all of whom are going to have a genuine impact on the growth of Drenched over the next few years.”