COMMUNITY | Final 10 vie for top prize at PLDT, Smart’s 'Start Up Innovation Challenge'

The search for the Philippines’ top startup team reaches fever pitch, as the PLDT and Smart Start Up Innovation Challenge narrows its applicants to 10 hopefuls.

The 10 finalists are Nudgyt, Packetworx, Uproot Urban Farms, Lyon.com.ph, KargaX, @steer platform, Olivia Technology Group, Inc., DaliPay, Wela School Systems, and MetroCity AI.

“We want to congratulate the 10 teams for making it as finalists in our PLDT & Smart Startup Innovation Challenge,” said Melvin Jeffrey Chan, PLDT vice president & head of Enterprise Innovations & IoT Business Development. “It’s been a fierce competition yet, as we have received entries across all the focus areas and we would like to thank everyong for bringing your best to us. We welcome all of you to our rigorous boot camp. We prepared mentorship programs, startup kits, and prototyping during this period. At the end of this journey, these teams will be part of the Philippine Startup Week 2021 to show us the final outcome. Looking forward on how these teams will evolve in the next 4 weeks.”

The month-long application process was able to gather over 80 start ups entries from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

“We’re all quite excited. We have a really good set of teams participating this year. With further polishing, their products could really be gamechanger,” said Kristine Dara Ever Juan, PLDT head for Innovations Lab & Ecosystems Partnerships .

Under the Workplace of the Future, finalists Nudgyt Pte. Ltd. developed AI that uses behavioral science to help managers grow their hybrid and work from home teams, while Metrocity AI developed Asynchronous video interviews with AI analysis and stack ranking. Packetworx, Inc. has an IoT solution that monitors, logs, and reports environmental conditions inside workplaces automatically, while Olivia Technology Group Inc’s expense management app allowsdw users to scan receipts or dictate expenses and then auto-generate expense reports for them, and finally Steer helps companies in the blue collar industries i.e. Maintenance, transform the way they do business.

For Smart City, DaliTech developed contactless palm vein scanners to help busy professionals feel at ease going out and making transactions, as KargaX has a B2B freight-matching platform to match businesses’ trucking requirements to accredited trucking companies.

Finalists in Education Lyon gives people the ability to build the learning experience they want, and engage communities, while Wela School System uses a platform which automates the processes in schools and updates parents in real-time using IoT/RFID.

UPROOT Urban Farms has modular shipping container farms that enable communities to grow food using fewer resources, up to 90% less water compared to traditional farming, for the Sustainability category.

“These startups have great potential to drive technology and innovation forward in the Philippines and we’re excited to see their progress.” shared IdeaSpace Executive Director, Katrina Rausa Chan. “We are happy to support PLDT and Smart in this Innovation Challenge, and work together with them in creating new opportunities for our homegrown tech ventures. This program is a model for how we hope to bridge promising Filipino startups with our country’s leading enterprises.” Juan said.

The teams are currently undergoing bootcamp to develop their products and will present during the culmination of the challenge during Start Up week. For more information updates, follow the PLDT Innolab official facebook page.