Nielsen Innovate Startup Mobilibuy Wins First Place In Ernst & Young's "THE PITCH" Competition

Nielsen-backed company wins Israel's largest startup competition against 200 entrants, three presentation rounds and public vote

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Nov 12, 2014, 01:00 ET

NEW YORK and HAIFA, Israel, Nov. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobilibuy, a Nielsen Innovate company that enables retailers to open virtual stores everywhere on digital or printed media, was named the 2014 winner of THE PITCH, an early startups contest, at the IBM-Ernst & Young's Journey Conference in in Tel-Aviv.

The Mobilibuy solution takes any ad or digital screen and turns it into a smart storefront. An intelligent product offering that matches the location, time and the surrounding shoppers is featured on the digital screen. When the shoppers meet these "stores," they purchase the goods by using their smartphone cameras and check out quickly in two steps As first place winners of the competition, Mobilibuy earned an all-expense paid road show to Silicon Valley to meet investors, business partners and potential customers.

"THE PITCH is arguably Israel's largest start-up competition, and winning against the most innovative new companies in the world is a great honor," said Koby Danon, CEO and co-founder of Mobilibuy. "Mobilibuy's aim is to bring the best on-the-go shopping experience to all consumers. Our platform brings the store to where consumer traffic is. In fact, we have created a completely new shopping experience for retailers, as well as shoppers, and we have seen conversion rates greater than 10% which is several times higher than traditional ecommerce."

Mobilibuy received initial funding from Nielsen's Israel-based technology incubator, Nielsen Innovate, in 2013. Nielsen Innovate operates in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel and invests in and mentors new businesses with a focus on marketing, consumer and advertising research technologies to fast track Nielsen's innovation pipeline for the benefit of its clients worldwide.

"Nielsen Innovate is more than just our investor," said Danon. "Nielsen is our partner and business development arm."

Bruce Haymes, Senior Vice President, Nielsen said, "We are proud to have aligned ourselves with the visionary entrepreneurs who founded Mobilibuy and congratulate them on an outstanding achievement in a country that is known for having some of the best innovations in the world. We look forward to continuing to help Mobilibuy as it grows, and to expose our global clients to the innovations coming from Nielsen Innovate."

The Pitch competition took place for the third year, in partnership with IBM and Canaan Israel, and included 200 entrants focused on innovations in cloud computing, big data, gaming, and mobile applications. Mobilibuy aced six other finalist competitors, after passing the semi-final stage and completing presentations to more than 100 venture capital professionals. At the final event, 800 investors and entrepreneurs and an on-stage selection panel voted for the winner.

ABOUT NIELSEN

Nielsen N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA, and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

SOURCE Nielsen