South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals, today announced the finalists for the 18th annual SXSW Pitch® event, happening March 13 – 14 at the JW Marriott Austin during the Startups Track of the SXSW Conference. The 2026 event will present 45 innovative and pivotal companies, hand-selected by the SXSW Pitch advisory board out of 600 applications, within nine distinct categories to a panel of industry experts, including high-profile media professionals, venture capital investors and angel investors.
“As someone who has been honored to be part of SXSW Pitch for 18 years, I’ve seen firsthand how bold ideas become breakthrough companies,” said SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine. “With unprecedented emerging technological momentum, 2026 marks a pivotal moment for startups, and we look forward to spotlighting and accelerating the next generation of global innovators.”
The 45 participating companies will present their innovations at the 2026 Award Ceremony, which will be co-emceed by Gary Tan of Y Combinator and Josephine Chen of Sequoia Capital, to a live audience of expert judges, including industry leaders such as Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures, Artur Gushiken of Softbank, Mary McKenna of Awaken Angels, Dave Rose of Gust, Marcos Fernandez of Fiat Ventures, Paul Campbell of Brown Venture Group, Lisa Burton O’Toole of HearstLab, Noramay Cadena of Supply Change Capital, Brittany Tofinchio Palmer of Adaptation Ventures, Pam York of Capita3, Gustavo Caetano of Sambatech, and more.
SXSW Pitch is dedicated to creating a platform for today’s leading startups and is excited to showcase the best and brightest companies across a variety of industries and sectors, bringing to life innovative ideas regarding technologies such as breath-enabled disease diagnostics, pollution remediation, and AI empowered security.
Of the participating companies, one will be named winner per category, with the most up-and-coming startup receiving the Best In Show award. The finalists of the 2026 SXSW Pitch in each category are:
Enterprise and Future of Work: Buildcheck (Mountain View, CA); GovWell (New York, NY); Hirundo (London, England); Vala (LaQuinta, CA); Yuzi Care (Seattle, WA)
Entertainment, Media, Sports & Creator Content: Moozz (Dubendorf, Switzerland); OneCourt (Seattle, WA); PHONT (Frankfurt, Germany); Theo: Prayer & Meditation (Miami, FL); Zoolife (Toronto, Canada)
Healthcare, AssistiveTech & BioTech: ATDev (Pittsburgh, PA); Fetal Therapy Technologies(Baltimore, MA); Orion Therapeutics (Knoxville, TN); Rea Diagnostics SA (Lausanne, Switzerland); Surgicure Technologies (Boston, MA)
Innovative World Tech: Aspect Aerospace (Mobile, AL); Carbon Swarm (Albuquerque, NM); Gudea (Minneapolis, MN); Haut.AI (Tallinn, Estonia); Mayimflow (Palo Alto, CA)
Intelligent Systems, Robotics, & Multisensory Technology: CubeVi (Palo Alto, CA); Endox AI(Boston, MA); Inductive Robotics (Austin, TX); Pike Robotics (Austin, TX); Socialtrait (San Francisco, CA)
Smart Cities, Transportation, Manufacturing & Logistics: GigU (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Ooga Technologies (Durham, NC); RedxGrid (Linz, Austria); ShotHawk (Peoria, IL); Tubender (Bedford, MA)
Smart Data, Security, and FinTech: Angel Protection (Midland, TX); Smart Bricks (San Francisco, CA); Tilt (Miami, FL); Vannadium (Arlington, VA); Xpdeep (Grenoble, France)
Student Startups: AISA Solutions (Cleveland, OH); Arrow Analytics (College Station, TX); Pinpoint Irrigation (Austin, TX); Pittsburg Coastal Energy (Pittsburg, PA); Spikey (Nashville, TN)
Sustainability, AgTech & Food: Cambria (Austin, TX); Green Steel Environmental (Boulder, CO); PLNTmatter (Los Angeles, CA); Sonicflora (Linkoping, Sweden); Sotira (Melon Park, CA)
Since the program debuted in 2009, SXSW Pitch finalists have raised more than $22 billion in funding, highlighting the impact of these innovative companies. 22% of these SXSW Pitch finalists have been acquired by leading global firms such as Google, Apple, Meta, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Live Nation, OpenTable, Michelin, Constant Contact, and Harmon. SXSW Pitch startups include Klout, ICON, Hipmunk, Wildfire, Tubemogul, Siri, Foodspotting, and Tango.
The 2026 Pitch event will feature 25 companies on Friday, March 13, and 20 companies on Saturday, March 14, at the JW Marriott Austin. A winner from each category will be announced during the SXSW Pitch Award Ceremony on Saturday, March 14, at 6:30 pm CT.
For a complete list of the 2026 Finalists, including alternates, visit: https://www.sxsw.com/pitch/
To learn more about the Startups Track, visit: https://www.sxsw.com/conference/startups/
About SXSW
SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is known worldwide for conferences and festivals that celebrate the convergence of technology, film and television, music, education, comedy and culture. The annual event serves global professionals through sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and networking that consistently generates unexpected discoveries when diverse communities come together. SXSW 2026 runs March 12-18 in downtown Austin, preceded by SXSW EDU March 9-12. Learn more at sxsw.com.
SXSW’s expansion into the Asia Pacific region, with SXSW Sydney starting in 2023 and Europe with SXSW London in 2025, provides new possibilities at this iconic experience. These events, each with their own distinct flavor, make South By an indispensable three-stop tour for the global creative community.
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