P!TCH XL, the annual pitching competition hosted by student-centric VC fund ASIF Ventures as a TNW Conference Side Event, announced that at TNW Conference 2022, they sent startups home with over €8,000 in prizes, thousands in partner credits, as well as connections with some of the best early-stage VCs.
Victor Bey-Smith, Director of ASIF Ventures, says, “It’s so great to have the student startup community back in one physical space. I even mentioned on stage that ASIF’s last proper in-person P!TCH event was over two years ago in the same space.” This was at a time when Victor was still just a bachelor’s student. “I’ll never forget the inspiration I felt that day, and I hope that this event inspires someone in the same way!”.
ASIF Ventures is a student-centric venture capital fund backed by the UvA, the VU, and private investors. They’re run by a group of the brightest recent graduates who have led investments in Lalaland, GetEase, Workwize, and 10 other student-driven firms. Their fellowship programme opens for Amsterdam students in September.
About the event
ASIF Ventures says that P!TCH XL, on June 15, was the culmination of three months of selection, training, and preparation by organisers, partners, and startups. From dozens of applicants, all recent graduates or student-founded startups, the best six were selected for this TNW Conference Side Event at The Student Hotel and underwent training from startup partners beforehand.
Jury members from Shamrock Ventures, APX, and PitchDrive were joined by representatives from ACE Incubator as well as Sebastiaan Scholten, co-founder of Workwize, to select the winner.
Kamael Sugrim from event sponsor Stripe interviewed Sebastiaan before the pitches, while ASIF hosted a panel with Julien Jukema, co-founder of Anywyse, the fund’s latest investment.
The finalists!
OASYS NOW
The company was founded in 2018 by Nima Salami, a student in Rotterdam, and later joined in by co-founders Soroosh Torabi, Sara Okhuijsen and Francis Behnen.
OASYS NOW is a cybersecurity and intelligent data storage & analysis solutions company based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It offers ethical-by-design, privacy-first, and future-proof data processes and storage solutions for biotechnology and high-security organisations active in the field of health and genomics.
Typically, individuals sign off on their DNA and health data rights when using standard testing services such as 23andMe or others, who then sell it for research purposes. By utilising blockchain technology, customers of OASYS NOW can now control how their health data is used, who gets to use it, and collect the rewards from the analysis of such valuable data.
To bridge the gap until then, the team is building a platform for health monitoring called OASYS HEAL. Along with €3,000 in cash, OASYS NOW left with a golden ticket to DutchTechSF’s investor dinner, with top VCs from both the Netherlands and Silicon Valley, as well as €36K in Scaleway cloud credits.
Stamps
ASIF Ventures continued its custom of letting the audience vote for one of the P!TCH winners two years after their previous in-person event. This time, the startup that stole the hearts was Utrecht-based Stamps!
Stamps was founded by Tess van Logestijn last year following her mother’s third fight with cancer. The startup’s goal is to help people going through difficult physical and emotional journeys communicate more effectively. Users may update their family and friends on progress, challenges, and feelings all from a single app without expending their limited energy, similar to a public journal.
For this solution, Stamps took home €1,500 along with thousands in coworking and software credits from Startup Village Amsterdam and Miro. Both prizes were facilitated by StartupAmsterdam, Stripe, LXA Advocaten, and ASIF’s other partners.
Other Finalists
YourDesq: The startup is building a platform that brings the flexibility of co-working to another level. Users can book coworking spots all over town from a single app. It also provides businesses with the opportunity to manage their office space dynamically and cost-efficiently, while enabling employees to work hybrid.
The company’s co-founders include Wouter van den Brink, Esmée Clewits, and Raymond Joore.
Revolv Space: It is a new space startup based in Delft, the Netherlands. Small satellites typically don’t have rotating solar panels and can have trouble capturing enough sunlight while staying operational. Co-founder Filippo Oggionni and his team have created a simple yet effective solution to this problem.
Deeplo AI: Founded by Ahmet Karatas and Mehet Dogan, Deeplo AI is an edtech platform where tech career opportunities are evenly and equally distributed, with tailored programmes to ‘test’ and train for tech jobs before committing.
Robin Retail: It is a centralised local fashion e-commerce platform and bike delivery system. The platform claims to bring together the best fashion and lifestyle boutiques of Amsterdam, making local gems easily accessible to all. The startup is on a mission to re-localise fashion consumption.
Founder Robin Broekhuizen had already pitched about her local fashion platform at P!TCH DE&I in March.
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