• Industry Agnostic Battle was the latest in the Unicorn Battles Q4 2022 series
• A whole 12 startups from all over the world and various industries were expected to compete for the jury’s attention and the winner’s title, but only 11 showed up
• ZERO-X won by a very close margin

On October 20, the Industry Agnostic Battle became the fifth in the Unicorn Battles Q4 2022 series, following the NFT & Crypto Battle, the Robots & Hardware Battle, the HealthTech & BioTech Battle, and the eCommerce + Logistics + Delivery Battle. Once again, a new participant for the Unicorn Cup Finals on December 1 was determined.

Unicorn Events’ COO Yuliia Osaulenko and CEO Anna Fedorova co-hosted the evening.After announcing the Battles’ sponsors – Network.VC, Silicon Valley Syndicate Club, and Startup Inc., the co-hosts briefly introduced the Industry Agnostic Battle’s judges. They included:

• Alexander Soroka, CEO at Network.VC
• Kelly Luo, founder and investor at Mans International (Canada)
• Jim Thomas, partner at Kirenaga Partners (the USA)
• Albena Todorova, Venture Partner at Rabo Ventures (Bulgaria)
• Miguel Martin, HC Spain and VP at Global Startups Committee (Spain)
• Kay Gruenwoldt, investor at Midgame Fund (the Netherlands)
• Gabriel Žanko, venture partner at Urano Capital and CEO at MobileYourLife (Colombia)
• Yurii Sereshchenko, managing director at QPDigital (Ukraine)
• Michal Zalesak, co-founder and managing partner at Lighthouse Ventures (the Czech Republic)
• Aldo Schenone, founder and CEO at Palgo Peru (Peru)
• Subrata Patra, managing partner at Ideacapital Ventures (India)

Additionally, the winner was determined by the votes from the expert board and the regular attendees. After all the participants took their time to pitch their startups and answered the jury’s questions, the votes were finalized and the winners were announced. ZERO-X won by a very close margin as Evitado Technologies was breathing down their neck but finished second. PlanetWatch got the bronze. Their winning pitches went as follows:

PlanetWatch

This France-based startup takes on the mission of monitoring air quality worldwide. Claudio Parrinello, PlanetWatch’s CEO, began by citing WHO’s information, according to which 7 million people die prematurely every year due to poor air quality, 99% of people are typically exposed to polluted air, and USD 8.1T get spent annually on assistance to remedy this damage.

Mr Parrinello’s proposed way of fixing this problem is to set up air quality sensors literally everywhere across the planet. Such a dense network of sensors will allow to identify and study epicenters of air pollution and deal with them in accordance with the data-driven analysis. To achieve this, PlanetWatch encourages city residents to deploy air quality sensors in their cities by tokenizing the process. The tech leverages blockchain, IoT, and AI. The procured and analyzed data becomes actionable and available to local governments and relevant service providers.

PlanetWatch can already boast a community of over 40 thousand active users who deployed over 70 thousand sensors globally. In the future, the startup can leverage this community to monitor other factors – such as water, noise, temperature, humidity, etc. Mr Parrinello calls such an approach ‘smart city as a service.’

Evitado Technologies

This startup is based in Hamburg, Germany, and tackles the problem of aircraft ground collisions at airports. According to the co-founder and co-CEO Alexander Kasinec, the problem is caused by human error – because airport operators don’t have the technology to use it, and it leads to about USD 10B of damage per year and billions more in delays. At the same time, airports require 17 000 employees to handle the job, and as such, the current global labor shortage limits the recovery.

Evitado’s solution is a collision warning system in the landing area of an airport. The system will alert about possible collisions in real time. It will not only help avoid the incidents and reduce labor pressure but also provide feedback about the ground operations that couldn’t be available before. As such, Evitado Technologies not only sells its proprietary hardware and software but also data analytics.

ZERO-X

Also known as EX Zero Carbon, this Indonesian startup is a deep tech that tackles the problem of waste. Its German-born CEO Julien Uhlig started the company in South-East Asia because he is convinced that the problem is the most acute in this region. The startup’s compact and affordable devices convert any waste – from horse manure and sewage sludge to solid municipal waste – into clean energy.

More specifically, the thermochemical reactors produce pipeline gas that can, among other things, replace Russia’s gas imports. They can also produce carbon bricks from waste. The reactors can be deployed anywhere and don’t require any additional infrastructure.

Other participating startups were:

• GIOS – a Ukrainian online school with a focus on maths and critical thinking
• Jade Autism – a Brazilian game app for treating people with cognitive impairments and providing their therapists with additional data for more effective treatment
• Travel Creators – an American platform for exchanging travel insights and monetizing travel experiences by creating on-demand trips
• Buluttan – a Turkish ML startup for more accurate weather forecasts
• Chataverse – an American NFT-gated messaging platform for NFT enthusiasts
• Travotel – an Indian B2B SaaS one-stop shop for travel agents to book transportation, stay, insurance, and more for their clients
• Delta Development – an American manufacturer of portable medical refrigerators for vaccines and blood products
• DELA Technologies – a Ghanaian manufacturer of portable AI-powered devices that help road police detect crime and fraud
• Unfortunately, One4 Services – a Pakistani industry-agnostic platform for outsourced customer engagement – could not take part in the Battle

You are welcome to watch all the pitches from the Industry Agnostic Unicorn Battle Q4 2022 here.