The competition final will be held in front of 1,000 attendees at this year’s Startup Summit in Edinburgh.

Judges from FutureX, Johnston Carmichael and Dentsu Aegis Network selected Daniel Winterstein (Good-Loop), Pasquale Saviano (Photocert) and Dr Elizabeth Fairley (Talking Medicines) to progress from the semi-finals which took place on September 24th. They represent applicants from across the UK and industries spanning healthcare, communications and advertising.

Good-Loop is a disruptive digital media platform which turns advertising money into funding for charitable causes - and delivering better ROI and capturing valuable permission-based data - in a market worth £150 billion.

Photocert’s software establishes and certifies the validity of pictures and videos, delivering 3rd party trust between both businesses and their customers. Photocert returns the authenticity and trust in images so people can trust their validity.

Talking Medicines brings medicines to life for improved insight into how patients take their medications. It captures the voice of the patient and reinvents the way pharmaceutical companies buy consumer insight about the who, what and why people take medicines.

The overall winner of the Startup Summit Competition will receive a fully-funded place on FutureX’s Silicon Valley Accelerate 2020 programme and a business support package worth over £220,000.

This package includes business support from Johnston Carmichael, The Herald, Dentsu Aegis, STV, IBM and AAI EmployAbility.

The Silicon Valley Accelerate programme takes a select group of rising UK tech leaders to Silicon Valley. There, they have the opportunity to connect with some of the global players in the tech industry and pitch to potential investors.

Previous cohorts have met with executives from Airbnb, Facebook, SurveyMonkey, RocketSpace, Y Combinator, Waze, and Threshold.

Richard Gill, semi-final judge and Managing Partner at Dentsu Aegis Network, said: “All of the companies who made the shortlist demonstrated a belief that they can solve major real-world problems through the effective use of data and technology. The finalists proved that they have real clarity of thought on how they will execute their business plans. I’m excited to see them in action at the final stage.”

Shaun Millican, semi-final judge and Partner & Head of Technology at Johnston Carmichael, said: “The quality of the propositions was consistently high, and all of the companies showed ambition to solve significant challenges through innovative technological solutions and to build businesses of scale. I look forward to seeing the finalists in action at Startup Summit later this month.”

Zoi Kantounatou, semi-final judge and Co-founder of FutureX, said: “With just one spot available on the Silicon Valley Accelerate programme, the competition is always intense - and this year’s applicants took it up a notch.

“The three tech for good finalists are vying for the chance to learn from global tech leaders in Silicon Valley and the extensive business growth and recognition that opportunity presents. I’m eager to see the finalists pitch live on the Startup Summit main stage and learn who’ll be joining us in Silicon Valley.”

The competition final will be hosted on the main stage at Startup Summit 2019 on October 30th in front of a live audience.

For more information, visit the startup summit website.