AWE Announces Start-Up Pitch Competition Finalists Vying for $200k at AWE EU 2023

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Oct 11, 2023, 03:00 ET

8 Finalists Competing for Investment From Acclaimed Investor Christopher Obereder; More Than 150 Companies Applied From 40 Countries

NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Augmented World Expo^® (AWE), the leading series of worldwide events focused exclusively on the business of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), all known collectively as XR, today announced the finalists for the $200,000 XR Start-up Pitch Competition for AWE Europe.

The investment being offered to the final winner (subject to due diligence) is by Chirstopher Obereder of Start-up-Chris Ventures out of Germany and California <https://www.start-up-chris.com/>.
The winner selected by the judges will not only win $200,000 in investment from Start-up Chris Fund, but also an Auggie Award recognizing the team as AWE EU 2023 "Start-up to Watch."

A record 150 global AR and VR start-ups applied, from 40 countries – there was an especially strong showing from Austria, France, Germany, the Nordic region, and the UK, reflecting the strong European ecosystem for XR. These start-ups incorporate technology stacks from a range of diverse domains, with a high concentration in AI platforms for capture and creation, games, art and culture, AR glasses, ecommerce, and advertising.

The finalists, selected from more than 150 entries passing the first round of due diligence are:

Artivive	https://artivive.com/
Quark XR	https://www.quarkxr.com/architecture
GN3RA	https://gn3ra.io/
Wondder	https://wondder.io
forwARdgame	forwardgame.com
WE/AR Studio	https://wear-studio.com/
Ink and Paint	www.inkandpaint.live
Brains Spark Games	https://www.brainsparkgames.com/

The competing start-ups will pitch their XR companies in front of a panel of expert judges including Mr. Obereder; Petri Rajahalme, Founding Partner FOV Ventures; and Leen Segers, Venture Scout & Co-founder Women in Immersive Technologies (WIIT) Europe.

Chris is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and investor with more than 12 years of experience in the tech industry. He is the founder and CEO of Start-up-Chris Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in start-ups at all stages and supports them with growth hacking, M&A and fundraising.

He is also a Forbes 30 Under 30 member and one of the leading growth hackers worldwide, with more than 350 million app installs generated so far. Mr. Obereder co-founded and sold four companies and helped start-ups raise more than $360 million in funding – he is an acclaimed early-stage investor in various high-profile companies such as Airbnb, Arista Networks, Coinbase, Okta and Splunk.

"The Breadth and depth of young start-ups deemed worthy to progress into the finals from pre-seed to series A shows strong momentum for XR innovation and entrepreneurship all across Europe," said Chrisopher Obereder of Start-up-Chris Ventures.

More than 100 exhibitors and sponsor brands have signed up for AWE Europe from October 24 and 25, 2023 in Vienna. A sampling of the leading names attending include Bank Austria, Bayer, HTC, Lenovo, Meta, Niantic, Pico, Qualcomm, Redbull, Siemens, Swisscom and Vuzix, amongst many others.

Investors may still apply for a FREE pass by submitting their credentials at https://www.awexr.com/global/investors.

AWE (Augmented World Expo^®) is the world's leading AR+VR conference and expo with events in the USA, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. AWE events consistently bring together a mix of CEOs, CTOs, designers, developers, creative agencies, futurists, analysts, investors and top press in a unique opportunity to learn, inspire, partner and experience firsthand one of the most exciting industries of our times.

All trademarks and registered trademarks previously cited are hereby recognized and acknowledged. For more information, please contact AWE PR Counsel Jonathan Hirshon at [email protected]

SOURCE AWE