Georgian AI startup Theneo won the Web Summit Pitch competition 2022

Web Summit, the world’s largest technology event, has declared Theneo, an AI startup from Georgia, the winner of this year’s PITCH competition.

In partnership with Siemens, PITCH is Web Summit’s startup competition, bringing together the world’s leading early-stage startups for a live onstage battle.

105 of the 2,296 startups exhibiting at the Web Summit competed in the group rounds of PITCH. The final, held on Web Summit’s Centre Stage this afternoon, saw Theneo crowned as the 2022 winner, with Gataca, an enterprise software solutions startup from Spain, and Biome Diagnostics, a MedTech and pharma startup from Austria, finish as runners-up.

The three finalists pitched to a judging panel comprising Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston, Monte Carlo co-founder and CEO Barr Moses, 500 Global founding partner and CEO Christine Tsai, and Siemens Xcelerator’s Bettina Rotermund – all heavyweights in the investment and startup world.

Theneo is an AI platform that allows users to import API collections, drag and drop requests, and convert them into various programming languages. As an API tool, Theneo is designed for all team members, from developers to non-technical team members.

The funny thing is, last year, we didn’t get into the PITCH competition.

I was watching as an attendee, and I said, ‘One day, I want to be there on the stage’.

I didn’t expect that I would get to the semi-finals this year, but it happened, and then the finals. It feels surreal.

said Ana Robakidze, Theneo founder and CEO.

Theneo bucks the trend of the last three years, during which PITCH winners – Smartex,
Lalibela Global-Networks and Nutrix – have all been medtech startups.

We are the first Georgian company to ever go this far in any kind of big startup competition.

So I feel like it’s beyond just me or my company. It also represents a lot for my country.

Unfortunately, not many people know about Georgia’s startup ecosystem. There are so
many great startups, and I feel like I’m also representing them.

continues Ana Robakidze.

Last year’s PITCH winner, Smartex – a MedTech company from Porto – revealed on stage at Web Summit yesterday that it has raised US$25 million in its Series A funding round.

Web Summit runs the world’s largest technology events, connecting people and ideas that change the world.

Web Summit events have gathered half a million people across Web Summit in Lisbon, Web Summit Rio in South America, Collision in North America, and RISE in Asia since Web Summit beginnings as a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009.