Diwala at SXSW 2018
Diwala was selected as a finalists to participate in the “Hyper-Connected Communities” category at the pitching competition during SXSW, and therefore travelled to Austin, Texas 9th of March.
South by Southwest is an annual collective of innovation & tech conferences, interactive media conferences, film and music festivals, which takes place in Austin,Texas on March 9–18. The event is an essential destination for global professionals, international startups, featured sessions, showcasing, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities.
Diwala worked hard during the event and grabbed all the opportunities we got which ended up in being on stage multiple times, through panel debates and pitching competitions. We had plenty of meetings with our international connections and got to hang out with the Norwegian startup scene at the House of Scandinavia. We are also honoured to have had the chance to be on stage with his royal highness, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, during our presentation on the sustainability goals.
SXSW Accelerator pitch competition
The SXSW accelerator pitch competition was a big event with a lot of great companies in 13 different categories! Unfortunately we did not win. But congratulations to the winner in our category: Grubtubs who is dedicated to reconnecting communities with local family farms by repurposing restaurants & grocery stores food waste. We still got presented as top two interesting companies to follow in Pitchbook data’s keynote talk.
UN Sustainability Goals
On September 25th 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet 🌍 and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. Diwala is meeting a total of 6 of the UN Sustainability Goals including; Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent work and Economic growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities and Partnerships for the goals. For the goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you.
We found it very valuable to discuss these topics with Crown Prince Håkon on stage, during our UN Sustainability goals talk together. He is very impressed by the growth of Norwegian start-up companies and the ecosystem around the last few years.
“The Norwegian companies are keen to solve real important issues. We now see that there is a strong interest in the Norwegian market in this field now. When they help solve those goals, they help bring the world forward”, says the Crown Prince in an interview with NRK, while he mentions Diwala and NoIsolation as good examples.
Read the whole article with Crown Prince Håkon here: (https://www.nrk.no/urix/kronprinsen-tror-norsk-teknologi-vil-fore-verden-fremover-1.13960109)
Nordic Pitch at House of Scandinavia
We had so much fun pitching at the Nordic Pitch event during SXSW ⭐️ The opening speech by His Royal Highness The Crown Prince was very inspiring and we got to learn more about the other amazing nordic startups; Penstable, NoIsolation, Mightifierapp and LexploreSweden!💥 It was great to be showcased amongst these startups representing the best in the Nordics, working to provide sustainable solutions to societal issues .
Panel Debates
All in all, SXSW was awesome and we have seen some really inspiring talks, had great meet-ups and been part of some very important panel discussions! The Consensys Panel discussion on blockchain and impact, and the Human Rights Foundation’s discussion on decentralised technology and human rights was especially interesting.
(More about the panel discussion and the themes and what you guys discussed)
We also managed to squeeze in some 🙏 time in one of the Etherial Tepees 😊
Until next time SXSW!
