By Ritu Jha-
Top startups from across the globe are vying for top honors and a $1 million investment prize at the Startup World Cup 2024.
Startup World Cup, organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based global venture capital firm, is a series of global startup conferences and competitions, powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures. It consists of over 100 regional startup competitions in more than 20 countries, leading up to the Grand Finale in Silicon Valley. The Startup World Cup 2024 Silicon Valley Regional was held at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, Aug 1.
The top startups from each regional event will compete at the Grand Finale for the Startup World Cup 2024 on October 4 in San Francisco, California at the Hilton Union Square. The Startup World Cup is a global conference and competition to bridge startup ecosystems worldwide. The competition gives startup companies a chance to win a $1 million prize in the form of an investment. This year over 100 regional events were held across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, leading to the Grand Finale in San Francisco.
The Chief Evangelist for Startup World Cup, Bill Reichert, is a partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, where he manages investments in the U.S. from its Silicon Valley headquarters. Reichert has helped manage Pegasus investments in AI, robotics, quantum computing, neuromorphics, space, and other sectors.
He spoke to indica about the Startup World Cup 2024 and what it could mean for the global ecosystem.
“Startup World Cup is now one of the largest startup competitions on the planet,” Reichert said. “We run regional competitions in a hundred cities around the world and the winners from those competitions come back to Silicon Valley to San Francisco to compete.”
This year, at the grand finale on Oct. 4, Reichert said they are expecting over 30,000 people at the Union Square Hilton.
“We will be running a conference with tech giants on stage as well as the competition finale with the top ten global successful companies pitching for the $1 million prize,” Reichert said.
Regarding current market conditions, Reichert said that after some years of seeing a high flow of money, the market is returning to normal.
“The market, the way it is right now, is much closer to normal than it was a couple of years ago when it was experiencing much money flooding in and prices being ramped up. Now we’re back to a more normal world where entrepreneurs are required to prove that they can find a pathway to profitability.”
Reichert says that in the 2018-2020 bubble, entrepreneurs were told to buy revenues at any price, which proved to be a terrible recommendation for entrepreneurs. To convince investors, now entrepreneurs at least must show that there is a pathway to profitability for their companies.
Reichert says it’s always the right time for startups.
“The great thing about the current era, as compared to the past, is that entrepreneurs now have the ability to disrupt or transform almost all sectors of our world – space technology, robotic
technology, healthcare, life science technology, materials science, technology, AI technology, and transportation technology. In venture capital and entrepreneurship every once in a while, a new technology, a new shiny thing comes out and there’s a lot of excitement. Too many investors rush in, too many entrepreneurs and startups. And then we have a mini bloodbath.”
When deciding which companies to invest in, Reichert says Pegasus Tech Ventures looks across all sectors, geographies and stages. They’re especially seeking companies with a compelling value proposition.
“The right candidates should have a clear differentiation and can go to their target customers. We want to invest in companies whose value proposition is so compelling that they can deliver and support, and it will be relatively easy for them to sell.”
The firm’s clients are a network of over 40 multinational corporations who are looking to partner with startups offering technologies that can be strategically valuable to them.
“We can also use our corporate network to help us vet startup companies for the technology and market requirements. That’s a huge win-win for everyone.”
Pegasus Tech Ventures is also interested in India and has invested in two companies there.
“We are global and we will be running a Startup World Cup competition in India next year. We are very interested in spending more time in South Asia.”
However, the company wants taxation and regulation concerns addressed before foraying into the Indian market. One of their firms happens to be a gaming company and last year suddenly had to start paying a new tax on gaming revenues.
There’s also a capital flow problem in India. Investors don’t want to put money in India because getting it back out is hard. Reichert says India needs to develop “world-class, world-benchmark” policies for investment and entrepreneurship.
“Silicon Valley has evolved a number of policies around labor law, stock options, right-to-work issues, and taxation that the U.S. government and the (Securties and Exchange Commission) have normalized for entrepreneurs and venture capital and other parts of the world. India just has not caught up. India’s not the only country that hasn’t caught up. But it is a problem.”
