The 18th Annual SXSW Pitch® Austin kicks off tomorrow, March 13, at 10am in Rooms F & G & H on the 3rd floor at the JW Marriott, 110 East 2nd Street.
This year’s event will feature 45 of the most innovative and cutting-edge technology companies in the global startup ecosystem today competing in nine categories before panels of technology experts, high-profile media personnel, and representatives from the Venture Capitalist and Angel communities. For a full list of the judges, check out the list here.
Tomorrow’s pitches will be from 25 finalists in the following categories: Healthcare, AssistiveTech & BioTech; Sustainability, AgTech & Food; Smart Cities, Transportation, Manufacturing & Logistics; Smart Data, Security, and FinTech; and Student Startups.
The competition continues on Saturday, March 14, starting again at 10am in Rooms F & G & H on the 3rd floor. The remaining 20 finalists will pitch in the following categories: Intelligent Systems, Robotics, & Multisensory Technology; Entertainment, Media, Sports & Creator Content; Enterprise and Future of Work; and Innovative World Tech.
Doors open on both days at 9:30am. View the full list of 2026 finalists and alternates here.
The winners of the nine categories, along with Best in Show, Best Speed Pitch, Best Bootstrapped, and Best Inclusivity, will be announced at the SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony at 6:30pm in the Grand Ballroom Salons 6 & 7 & 8 at the JW Marriott. The ceremony will be hosted by Garry Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator, a leading startup accelerator for entrepreneurs, and Josephine Chen, a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm that specializes in seed, early, and growth investments in companies across technology sectors.
If you miss the pitches, you can still meet each of the 45 finalists at the SXSW Pitch “Meet the Startups” in the Demo Session on Sunday, March 15, at 10:30am in Rooms F & G & H on the 3rd floor at the JW Marriott.
Click here to attend SXSW Pitch. We hope to see you there!
SXSW Pitch is sponsored by KPMG, which goes far beyond the ordinary and the obvious to develop valuable insights that inform decisions, identify new opportunities and drive better, faster outcomes. Its diverse teams of industry professionals ask the right questions, see different perspectives, and uncover insights to bridge the gap between idea and execution. The result? Inspired innovation that works. KPMG firms operate in 143 countries and territories with more than 273,000 partners and employees working in member firms around the world.