SmartGrains, Wozaik Take Winning Spot at Innovate!2010 Paris Pitch Slam(TM)

SAN FRANCISCO and PARIS, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Produced by Guidewire Group, the world's leading analyst firm focused exclusively on startups and emerging markets, Innovate!2010 is a global competition to identify and promote the top 100 technology startups via a series of over 20 regional Pitch Slam events. At each Pitch Slam, semi-finalists in the competition are evaluated by a panel of expert judges using Guidewire Group's proprietary G/Score™ assessment methodology.

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The eleventh Pitch Slam in the Innovate!2010 series, which encompassed two sessions of companies pitching, took place at the Microsoft Conference Centre in Paris on the 26th of April. The panel of judges included Amina Belghiti (Head of Developer Platform and New Ventures for Europe, PayPal), Nicolas Debock (Innovation and Strategy, Xange), Martin Duval (Founder and CEO, bluenove), Laurent Perriault (Partner, MGT), Sam Rosenbalm (Director of Community Development, Emerging Business Team, Microsoft), Roxanne Varza (Editor, Techcrunch France), Matteo Rizzi (Innovation Leader, SWIFT), Chipper Boulas (Founder and Managing Director, Boulas Ventures), Stephanie Bouchet (Founder, RougeFrog), and Guillaume Berthet (idEES and BizSpark startups, Microsoft).

Twenty-two semi-finalists competed in the Pitch Slam, with SmartGrains and Wozaik taking winning honors in their respective pitch sessions -- guaranteeing themselves both a spot on the prestigious Innovate!100 list.

SmartGrains develops ParkSense, a system composed of ground-mounted sensor units and wireless guidance signs that automatically guides drivers to vacant parking spots. Wozaik is a Web service that allows users to create visual, interactive and automatically updated bookmarks from any section of their favorite Web sites.

Innovate!2010 partners with companies like Alacatel-Lucent, BestBuy, Cisco Systems, Comcast, eBay, EMC, HP, HSBC, IBM, LG Electronics, Microsoft, O2 Litmus, Oracle, PayPal, RIM, SAP, Sony and Verizon and serves as a platform for these corporations to quickly identify and partner with high-potential startups.

Congratulations also goes to the Paris Pitch Slam semi-finalists: Tellmewhere (runner-up), Tryane (runner-up), Ulteo (runner-up), Leetchi.com (runner-up), Novapost (runner-up), Allmyapps, Beezbox, Bookioo World, COORP, EcoVadis, Flipstory.com, Gekko, Hop-Cube, Intelen, Openchain, Silentale, Sparkom, Stupeflix, SubMate and Yatedo.

These companies remain in the running to be named to the Innovate!100 list and to compete for a share of over $1M in Innovate! Challenge prizes of cash and in-kind awards.

The full schedule, up-to-the-minute Pitch Slam news and content, including videos from the event, can be found at www.Innovate100.com.

About Innovate!2010

Innovate!2010 is a global competition to identify and promote the top 100 global technology startups. The program enables the most promising startups to gain access to resources and opportunities to accelerate the growth of their companies. Innovate!2010 also enables its partners, including technology and telecommunications vendors, government agencies, professional services providers, technology scouts and investors, to identify and engage hundreds of highly vetted, fast-growing startups and raise their brand profile in the global startup community. Innovate!2010 sponsors and partners include leading organizations like Alacatel-Lucent, BestBuy, Cisco Systems, Comcast, DifferenceEngine, EMC, HP, HSBC, Hearst, IBM, LaPoste, LG Electronics, Microsoft, O2 Litmus, Oracle, PWC, Quickstart Global, PayPal, RIM, SAP, Silicon Valley Bank, Sony, SWIFT, Turner Broadcasting, Verizon, and the City of Zaragoza; as well as European and U.S. economic development agencies, and dozens of leading angel and venture capital investors.

About Guidewire Group, Inc.  

Guidewire Group is a global market intelligence and advisory firm passionate about technology entrepreneurship. Our exclusive focus on early-stage companies and emerging technology markets drives insight and opportunity to our clients and community. At the heart of our offerings is the G/Score™, a proprietary assessment tool that brings clarity and focus to the art of transforming ideas into successful enterprises. Developed over the course of more than 20,000 startup interviews, the G/Score has proven to be a reliable predictor of startup viability and promise. Our G/Score data helps technology investors, customers and platform vendors rapidly qualify and respond to startup deal flow from even thousands of startups. Our G/Score assessment tools help startups, investors, service providers and government agencies to identify and benchmark competitive strengths and weaknesses, and our Studio G business acceleration programs helps startups achieve their growth objectives with clarity of purpose, speed and efficiency.

For more information, contact Vanessa McDonald, [email protected], +44 (0)754 032 5319.

SOURCE Guidewire Group, Inc.