In the picture: Tarryn Gorre, founder and CEO of Kafoodle and winner of the Startup Summit Competition 2017; on stage at the Assembly Rooms for Startup Summit 2017.

Each year we select one emerging technology entrepreneur and award them a fully funded place on the Silicon Valley Accelerate programme where entrepreneurs gain an unprecedented insight into the culture and strategy of some of the world’s most innovative organisations operating out of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Delegates will sit down with globally-known founders, investors and innovators, who will share insight on growth and leadership. The experience creates a space to engage with global influencers, reflect on your entrepreneurial journey, and create actionable steps for personal and professional development.

Acadmi is a Mobile Training App that is much more than a standard Learning Management Solution (LMS). Acadmi uses data intelligently to tailor a training pathway around the individual's performance and skills needs, optimising the delivery of interactive content to not only build engagement but also the retention of knowledge.

CST has developed a robotic surveillance vehicle, called Mantis, that will autonomously patrol and monitor large perimeters, such as airports. Mantis provides a dynamic data capture platform to complement existing security systems, reducing blind spots and enabling quicker visual verification.

Estendio are an EdTech start up and creators or Present Pal. Present Pal is a presentation support software which enables users to deliver a more confident and prepared presentation.
Being fully integrated with Microsoft PowerPoint, users can access their notes whilst also seamlessly controlling their PowerPoint at the same time – all from one device!

Good-Loop converts ad money into free charity donations - whilst delivering 20-50% higher ad performance, at no exta cost to the advertiser.

MyWay Digital Health is a University of Dundee Spin out company incorporated in Jan 2017. The main product is MyDiabetesMyWay (MDMW), a clinically proven, cost saving digital management system for diabetes resulting from 14 years of R&D within the University of Dundee and NHS Scotland. MDMW is NOT yet another smartphone app!!, but a fully integrated healthcare data-driven platform that utilises near real time healthcare organisation and patient recorded data to drive tailored education and automated support and advice using AI.

Online travel agent and property management company that match property owners with guests from around the world. We start and manage hands-off businesses for our clients, by utilising the latest technology, amazing people and linking the worlds best software, platforms and businesses.

Sensalytx is developing a pioneering software platform called Q-DOS™ initially for the oil and gas decommissioning market. It will utilise artificial intelligence to analyse complex downhole data and will provide new visualisations to generate user-focussed, decision-ready reports.
Interpretation of a dataset that currently takes a human expert many days, if not weeks, will be reduced to minutes. This will enable fast, informed decision-making.

In countries that experience freezing, most solar thermal systems have a separate antifreeze filled loop for protection against freezing and require a new tank fitted with a heat exchanger. When retrofitting, a perfectly good tank needs to be replaced. We have developed and patented an innovative solution that heats the water directly without the antifreeze loop. Our system can freeze without damage and can also overheat without damage.

Congratulations to the eight semi-finalists!

They will be pitching in front of our panel of judges this Wednesday and the finalists will be announced later this week. The three finalists will pitch live at Startup Summit on October 31st!

All finalists will receive:

• Adopt An Intern Recruitment Package
• Pitch mentorship and consultation from Johnston Carmichael

The overall winner will be awarded:

• A fully funded place on FutureX Silicon Valley Accelerate programme (worth £3k + flights + accommodation)
• An Adopt An Intern Recruitment Package
• $120,000 IBM Cloud Credits
• £100,000 worth of advertising with STV (only available to Scottish registered companies)
• A pitch mentorship and consultation from Johnston Carmichael

Join us at Assembly Rooms on October 31st: get your ticket to Startup Summit today!