Now!Innovations Takes Winning Spot at Innovate!100 Tallinn Pitch Slam Event

SAN FRANCISCO and TALLINN, Estonia, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Guidewire Group, the world's leading analyst firm focused exclusively on startups and emerging markets, held a regional 'Pitch Slam' event in Tallinn, Estonia on June 2, 2010 as part of the Innovate!2010 competition. Top honors at the event went to NOW! Innovations, a digital permit and mobile payment solution provider for the parking and transport sectors. The runner-up at the event was GrabCAD, and the second runner-up was Nutiteq.

The Innovate!2010 Pitch Slam in Tallinn is one of over 20 Pitch Slam events that Guidewire Group is hosting this year across Europe and the United States. At each Pitch Slam, startups are evaluated by a panel of expert judges using the G/Score, Guidewire Group's proprietary assessment methodology for evaluating startup success and business viability. The judges at the Tallinn Pitch Slam were: Kaushal Chokshi, Quickstart Global; Heidi Kakko, Estonian Development Fund; Andrei Korobeinik, Rate Solutions; Allan Martinson, MTVP; and Margus Uudam, Ambient Sound Investments.

The G/Scores will be aggregated from all of the Pitch Slams, normalized across markets, stages and segments, and then ranked to determine the Innovate!100. Innovate!2010 partners with market leaders like Best Buy, HP, Microsoft, Motorola, O2, RIM, Oracle and SWIFT and serves as a platform for these corporations to quickly identify and  partner with high-potential startups.

More information, including videos from the Tallinn Pitch Slam, can be found at www.innovate100.com. Congratulations to all of the startups that were invited to present in Tallinn:

Carfi OU: Car-buying service that helps consumers purchase a car that best suits their needs.

Edicy : Easy-to-use tool for building small business websites.

GradCAD:  Web-based solution for CAD drawing, 3D modeling and image rendering.

The Groups Project: Private communication and collaboration platform for small groups.

NOW!Innovations: Web-based ASP platform for parking and public transport operators to issue and enforce mobile and digital tickets.

Nutiteq: Mobile mapping development tools and white-labeled customized mobile client-based mapping applications.

Sportlyzer: Web application that offers fitness training tips and support.

TuningRoom: Internet-based service car design enthusiasts that lets them change the stock parts of a standard car.

About Innovate!2010

Innovate!2010 is a global competition to identify and promote 100 top global technology start-ups. The program enables 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, eBay, EMC, HP, HSBC, Hearst, IBM, LaPoste, LG Electronics, Microsoft, O2 Litmus, Oracle, PayPal, PWC, Quickstart Global, RIM, SAP, Silicon Valley Bank, Sony, SWIFT, Turner Broadcasting, Verizon, and the City of Zaragoza; as well as European and US 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.

About Estonian Development Fund

Estonian Development Fund activates the venture capital market by investing together with private investors into Estonian companies with international ambition.

Estonian Development Fund is also the think tank for foresight of Estonia's growth perspectives and the booster of startup entrepreneurship.

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

SOURCE Guidewire Group, Inc.