By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News
Rahul Koduri, CEO and co-founder of EORA 3-D, which won Australia’s pitch competition for best business at SXSW.
And the country’s tech startups performed well, said Patrick Hanlon, Trade and Investment Commissioner and Deputy Consul General in the Houston Australian Consulate-General. The Australian Trade and Investment Commission, known as Austrade, led the Australian events at SXSW.
Sounds Scouts, based in Sydney, Australia, won the SXSW Accelerator pitch competition in the Health and Wearables category.
The company created a game that is designed to test the hearing of children just starting school. It’s an accessible and low cost hearing test.
And on Monday, Australia held its first SXSW software and hardware pitch competition. Seven tech startups from Australia gave three minute pitches and then answered questions from a panel of judges. In the end, EORA 3D, which makes a high precision 3D Scanner powered by a smartphone, won for best business.
Rahul Koduri, CEO and co-founder of EORA 3-D, said the company is entirely bootstrapped. In 2015, the company raised nearly $600,000, far exceeding its $80,000 goal to launch the product. To date, the company has sold more than 4,500 units at $300 and is talks with major customers in heavy manufacturing, forensics and more, Koduri said. It already has customers in more than 60 countries that are using the scanner to digitize models for a variety of uses including 3D printing and industrial design.
The device is a fast and easy way to capture objects and surfaces accurately in 3D. Competing scanners cost anywhere from $18,000 to $100,000, Koduri said.
“The scanner works by projecting a green laser across an object and utilizing the smartphone’s camera and processor to study the distortion of the laser line and reconstruct a 3D model, that is accurate to sub-100 microns in under 10 seconds,” according to the company.
EORA-3D recently received Popular Science’s Invention of the Year for 2016 award.
Another startup, Quizling, based in Canberra, Australia, is a quiz platform where anyone can create, play and share quizzes. It won the pitch competition for best pitch.
Winners of the Australia pitch competition at SXSW.
Its key partners include the National Gallery of Australia, The Royal Australian Mint, National Library of Australia and Inspiring Australia, a technology advocacy organization.
The other startups included Quitch, an educational technology company. Grainne Oates, a professor, started the company to engage students more in academic learning.
Linius Technologies, which makes video security and anti-piracy technology, is a public company based in Melbourne, Australia. It has a patented Video Virtualization Engine. Christopher Richardson is the CEO.
Jugglr, a mobile app that helps moms, created a platform for listing and getting paid for services. The platform also features a business affiliate program enabling local businesses and organizations of all sizes to have presence in Jugglr to market to moms. It is currently operating in Australia with plans to expand globally starting with North America and the UK. Elio Adragna is one of the founders.
Intelligent Security Integration Australia, which has been in business for 15 years, just launched its Mobile CCTV Command Center. It can be configured with customized video surveillance applications. It is marketing the product to government agencies, disaster management agencies, prisons, private security companies and others. Stephen Bell is the founder and CEO.
Artlivemedia, an enterprise search specialist agency, based in Minneapolis and Melbourne, Australia with 15 employees, specializes in Search Engine Optimization. It has worked with major companies including Cisco, Officemax and OfficeDepot, as well as Australian companies including Telstra, Henley, CGU and Tennis Australia. Michelle Bourke is the CEO and founder.
Editor’s note: Australia is an advertiser with Silicon Hills News
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