TechChill Milano Fifty Founders Battle 2023
Togggle, a KYC startup from the UK, has been crowned the winner of the Fifty Founders Battle at TechChill Milano, 2023.
TechChill was originally held in Riga, Latvia in 2012. Having grown the event to 2500+ attendees, the event played a major role in putting the Baltic ecosystem on the European map. After celebrating 10 years of the event, the TechChill team has stepped out of its Latvian borders.
The decision to come to Italy stems from local demand, international interest, ecosystem support, and TechChill’s own goals. Milan, an economic hub and startup hotspot in Italy, was the logical choice. After one successful year with excellent feedback, TechChill saw the need, demand, and benefit of returning for a second year.
The main event, held on September 26-27 in Milan in Bocconi University in partnership with its entrepreneurship hub, B4i – Bocconi for Innovation, was preceded by a side-events day on the 25th.
Pitch competition
The Fifty Founders Battle received 316 applications from 39 countries, making it the most international pitch battle in TechChill history, with applicants from the USA and Canada to Indonesia and Ghana.
Additional winners of Fifty Founders Battle prizes include:
- AWS, $25,000 in credits for AWS services – Voicement
- Immediate Accelerator, media coverage of up to 30,000 EUR – Drype
- 250,000 EUR investment opportunity from Look AI Ventures – Footprints AI
- 100,000 EUR investment opportunity from Eden Ventures – Togggle
- One year membership at PolyHub, MIXD 5 hour consultation, Hero program tuition from Draper University, 10k EUR, no strings attached from Federated Innovation @MIND – Togggle
On day 1 of TechChill, 50 semi-finalists pitched on stage to the jury. At the end of the day, five finalists were announced, who would be contenders for the grand prize. Those were:
- Footprints AI (Romania) – AI tool to launch media retail platforms
- Soource (Italy) – AI-driven sourcing and negotiation
- LetsData (USA) – AI tool to detect trends and anomalies in online communication
- Togggle (UK) – Seamless identity verification and distributed infrastructure
- Drype Cocktails (Italy) – water-soluble alcoholic cocktail concentrate
The jury was made up of Emanuele Torlonia of Eden Ventures, Riccardo Cirillo of DIP Captial, Andrea Orlando of Startup Wise Guys, Leonardo Saroni of Prana Ventures, and Clara Cornu of 360 Capital.
Even though it was warm and sunny, the wind in the air at TechChill’s Day 0 at MIND-Milano Innovation District was fresh.
Tommaso Boralevi, President of Federated Innovation @MIND
This wind comes from the Baltics, and it brought a different air, energy, and conversations to Milan’s innovation ecosystem.
As we create an international culture of doing innovation – the Italian way – we look at what we can add. TechChill is one of those components, and my hope is that it will continue with more traction, more energy, and the same fresh wind from the Baltics.
This is the second year TechChill Milano has been held, the first international branch of TechChill’s annual flagship conference in Riga, Latvia. TechChill Milano was attended by over 1000 attendees from 39 countries, 125 investors, 200+ startup representatives, more than 50 media representatives, 50 speakers, and more than 30 side events.
In only its second year, we see that TechChill has already become a recognized name throughout with the community, attracting startups, prominent investors, active businesses, and so many more.
Annija Mežgaile, CEO of TechChill
That’s what TechChill has always been – a platform to strengthen the ecosystem, build the community, and give it the tools to propel it further. And we’re happy to have brought that to Milano.
At last year’s TechChill Milano, the pitch battle grand prize winners were TA-DAAN from Italy. Other past TechChill Fifty Founders Battle winners include Baltic success stories Infogr.am (acquired by Prezi), Nordigen (acquired by Go Cardless), TrackDuck, Edurio, Anatomy Next, Precision Navigation Systems, Longenesis, Vocal Image App, and more.