This was our final week at the Barclays Accelerator in Tel Aviv, powered by Techstars.  It’s been an incredible 13 weeks. We’ve met so many people, and learnt so much. To everyone: thank you. 

The finale of the programme was Wednesday’s Demo Day at which we presented alongside the other nine amazing companies who were in our cohort. Over the duration of the accelerator programme, we’ve become friends, forever linked by this experience.

There was a slight hiccup when one of our team, Marcus, had a nasty scooter accident on Tuesday night and had to access proceedings on stage from the comfort of his recovery-bed. Thank goodness for the technology that allows this! And thank goodness, also, for the support of our colleagues (especially Mickaelle) which meant, though we were down one member, our presentation still went just as planned.

After all our pitches were delivered and the rounds of applause finished, there was a fantastic networking event with the 300+ investors and experts who’d come along to see us all. untied had a great response from people who are interested in our tech and ideas, and as ever the real pleasure is being in such a high-octane environment, making connections with other businesses and individuals.

And then- onwards! There was no opportunity for big celebrations on Wednesday night, because Thursday saw us take our place in the acclaimed startup competition held at Fintech Junction, Israel’s largest and leading conference on technology and innovation in the financial industry. The competition is judged by a panel of corporate representatives and leading and seasoned investors from the fintech ecosystem, and to even land a pitching slot is a huge achievement.

Kevin repeated his slick, memorable pitch of the untied app and the judges gave us the honour of awarding us the winning prize!

Kevin says he was completely stunned.  This is the first time a non-Israeli venture has won, and we were up against really tough competition- there are some fantastic and well-developed ideas out there.  Winning the prize means even more doors are opened to untied and we look forward to making the most of all of the opportunities the win presents to us. As well as potential financial investment, the winner of the competition is given training and development opportunities, leadership programme access, and practical support and resources as well as a spot to attend the BBVA Open Summit later this year- a further opportunity to pitch to investors.

What a week! We’re looking forward for some time to digest all that we’ve learned, get to know some of the newest connections that we’ve made, and start making plans for the next few months of untied. Watch this space…  And if you want to keep up with all our latest news, sign up here!

 

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