LONDON — For the first time, Google for Entrepreneurs hosted Google Demo Day beyond Silicon Valley to bring together ten of Europe's leading startups to the Google UK Headquarters. XapiX was honored to be selected to pitch alongside nine other innovative startups and participate in the three day event.
WATCH: XapiX and other startups pitch at Google Demo Day London
"I could not help but reflect on the long journey and progress we have made from trying to get attention at a Berlin hackathon back in 2015 to being recognized to be among the top European startups today" XapiX co-founder Ralph Gernot Klingmann shared when learning that XapiX was selected to pitch at Demo Day London.
XapiX co-founders Ralph Gernot Klingmann and Christian Umbach at Google Campus London
The selective list of startups provided technical solutions from a range of different industries including project management, maternity health care, and self-sufficient green homes. XapiX showed off our API integration technology with a message to "put developers first."
"We have a truly technical product that end consumers will not touch," XapiX co-founder Christian Umbach explains, "but many of their future products and services will be empowered by this. It’s great seeing Google recognize and share this vision."
.@xapix_io makes it easy for devs to discover, combine + consume data from multiple API providers. https://t.co/YQyXZ4uJHa #GoogleDemoDay pic.twitter.com/nr4Tec6d6Y
— Google4Entrepreneurs (@GoogleForEntrep) April 20, 2017
Demo Day is actually a bit of misnomer, as Google invests three full days engaging with the invited startups through a series of mentoring and practice events. For the first two days, the series of practical sessions were hosted at Campus London, the Google’s co-working space for startups in London. The last day concluded with DemoDay pitch presentations at Google's UK Headquarters in Knights Cross.
On the first day, XapiX was put to the test and pitched in front of a real audience and panel of judges. "We thought we were fully prepared upon arrival, but we were able to take it to another level with the guidance of the Google team" Ralph shared.
"With that as an input we could truly refine our story in the next 24 hours, which helped us deliver a much clearer message at the event and going forward" stated Christian as he reflected on the second day at Google Campus.
In addition to coaching, Google provided us with our branded booth and swag and provided design assistance for our presentation. "Google took care of all the set-up logistics in a way that maximized the time we had to engage with a standing-room-only audience of potential investors and clients" Ralph claimed.
With two days of preparations, XapiX pitched on live stream, with viewers watching from around the world. XapiX supports from New York City to Berlin cheered us on as with pitched for judges and room full of investors.
Last, but not least - a big shoutout to our friends at Kenzen for taking home the grand prize!
