AutoMobility LA™ Announces Sponsor And Prizes For 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition™

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- Top Ten winner to have the opportunity to be included in Extreme Tech Challenge on Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island

- Startups to compete for prizes worth over $200,000 provided by Elektrobit, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Porsche Consulting

- Leading global automotive supplier Magna International Inc. to sponsor 2017 competition

News provided by

Los Angeles Auto Show

Jul 20, 2017, 11:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles Auto Show's (LA Auto Show®) AutoMobility LA™ today announced that leading global automotive supplier Magna International Inc. will be a sponsor for its 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition™ (Top Ten). With Top Ten continuing to evolve, Magna International Inc. becomes the first company to sponsor the startup competition.

"Our work with start-ups helps us stay at the forefront of emerging technologies and potentially validate them for automotive applications," said Swamy Kotagiri, Magna's Chief Technology Officer. "We see great opportunity to form mutually beneficial relationships with inventors and entrepreneurs to help bring ideas to market."

Additionally, the show has revealed prizes that will be awarded to the Top Three and grand prize winners. Top Three and grand prize winners will receive a Microsoft BizSpark Plus prize of $120,000 in Azure credits over two years, consultancy from Elektrobit, Microsoft and Porsche Consulting, NVIDIA DRIVE™ PX 2 AI car computing platform, and EB robinos open software framework to speed the development of their autonomous driving functionalities. The Top Ten grand prize winner will also receive a cash award and an opportunity to attend the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) held on Sir Richard Branson's private estate, Necker Island.

All finalists for this year's competition will receive exclusive access to AutoMobility LA, exhibit space inside the Technology Pavilion, and tickets to the 2018 NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference on AI and self-driving cars. The startups will also be recognized in front of 25,000 media professionals, influential thought-leaders, automakers, tech titans, designers, developers, investors, dealers, government officials, analysts, fellow startups and more.

Finalists will have full access to all major AutoMobility LA networking events and receive an invitation to a VIP reception with the AutoMobility LA executive team, Advisory Board members, top investors and industry executives.

Top Ten will be introducing a new award this year in conjunction with the Top Ten prizes. Presented by technology giant NVIDIA, the best automotive startup using AI will be announced during AutoMobility LA 2017. The winning company will receive an NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 AI car computing platform and EB robinos open software framework.

AutoMobility LA's Top Ten Startups will be selected from the pool of applicants by a panel of judges comprised of top executives from Elektrobit, NVIDIA, Time Inc.'s The Drive, Porsche Consulting and Microsoft, as well as the LA Auto Show executive team. Previous finalists, such as Spatial.ai and HAAS Alert, have gone on to receive significant funding rounds after participating in the competition.

Once the Top Ten Startups have been selected, this team of esteemed jurors will go on to narrow the list of ten to three company finalists, followed by determining the grand prize winner. The grand prize winner will then participate in an advisory session with the judges during AutoMobility LA, and receive significant prizes to help further grow their business.

"We're excited to have Magna International Inc. as an official sponsor of the Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition," said Lisa Kaz, President and CEO of the LA Auto Show and AutoMobility LA. "By adding Magna and having judges and mentors from some of the most well-known executives in their respective industries, we are taking this competition to the next level. We are looking forward to finding the next-generation of disruptive startups that will move the auto-tech needle."

Due to the high volume of applications for this year's Top Ten competition, AutoMobility LA has extended the submission deadline until Friday, August 11. For more information or to apply, please visit www.automobilityla.com/top-ten-automotive-startups.

About the Los Angeles Auto Show and AutoMobility LA

Founded in 1907, the Los Angeles Auto Show (LA Auto Show®) is the first major North American auto show of the season each year. In 2016, the show's Press & Trade Days merged with the Connected Car Expo (CCE) to become AutoMobility LA^TM, the industry's first trade show converging the technology and automotive industries to launch new products and technologies and to discuss the most pressing issues surrounding the future of transportation and mobility. AutoMobility LA 2017 will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center Nov. 27-30, with manufacturer vehicle debuts intermixed. LA Auto Show 2017 will be open to the public Dec. 1-10. AutoMobility LA is where the new auto industry gets business done, unveils groundbreaking new products and makes strategic announcements in front of media and industry professionals from around the globe. LA Auto Show is endorsed by the Greater L.A. New Car Dealer Association and is operated by ANSA Productions. To receive the latest show news and information, follow LA Auto Show on Twitter at twitter.com/LAAutoShow, via Facebook at facebook.com/LAAutoShow or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/laautoshow/ and sign up for alerts at http://www.laautoshow.com/. For more information about AutoMobility LA, please visit http://www.automobilityla.com/.