This past Tuesday, STRV held its first-ever Pitch Competition, in which startups competed to win $150,000 worth of mobile development for three months. It was held in a trendy space in the up-and-coming Dogpatch neighborhood in San Francisco, complete with an indoor pool and a floating plastic swan. Five judges sat listened to representatives from 15 startups – including CircleClick clients SKULLY and Wingz. Right before the judges announced the winner, one of them mentioned he’d “never seen such a tight competition.”

The startup that walked away with the $150,000 in design and development resources from STRV was Win-Win, the first fantasy sports platform where both fans & athletes win. Its CEO, Mike T. Brown, formerly played in the NFL and has many connections in the league. The way it works is you can sign up to join a tournament hosted by a pro athlete and compete against your friends, donate your entry fee and support the charity chosen by the host athlete, and then earn fantasy points & win priceless experiences like dinner with the host athlete. Win-Win is gearing up to launch for the 2016 NFL season so this app development assistance comes at the perfect time. 

Win-Win may have won, but there were many impressive startups worth talking about. Shypmate, for example, calls itself the Airbnb for International Delivery. If you want to order something from the US and ship it to anywhere in the world, Shypmate will take care of the process for you and guarantees delivery in 5-10 days with significantly lower fees than anything else on the market.

.@shypmate is the “Airbnb for International Delivery”. #STRVpic.twitter.com/Iwek3nXBkB

— Circle Click (@circleclick) May 25, 2016

Another impressive app was Voxeet. We’ve all been on a conference call when someone talks over another person, someone is hard to hear, you name it. Conference calls can be effective, however they’re not yet optimized for user experience. Voxeet is seeking to change that. The secret is in their proprietary sound algorithms. “True voice” technology.  It transforms the ordinary conference call into a 3D immersive, surround-sound experience. Imagine hearing everyone crystal clear, as if they’re in the room with you, sitting to your left, your right, or even behind you. That’s now available with Voxeet.

Here are additional highlights from the night:

Great @strvcom event last night! We’re proud to push #UX beyond the mobile screen and into the SKULLY #AR platform. pic.twitter.com/zkePWabVUD

— SKULLY (@skullysystems) May 25, 2016

“The big differentiator with Wingz is trust. The driver relationship really sets us apart.” @wingzteam #STRV pic.twitter.com/wF56DUatVV

— Circle Click (@circleclick) May 25, 2016

Congrats @strvcom for the awesome pitch contest and venue. Impressive! pic.twitter.com/sgDkuXkGUC

— Edith Yeung (@edithyeung) May 25, 2016

Thanks to STRV for bringing together a number of impressive companies and for hosting such a wonderful event. We look forward to seeing what all of these startups will accomplish.