SxTech EU's Startup Competition Now Open for Submissions

The submission process for the 2021 sex tech startup pitch competition hosted by Sx Tech, the annual European sex tech event, is now live.

Named The Great Pitch Contest, the competition will see entries whittled down to eight sextech semi-finalists, who will pitch their startups at the retail-focused event on October 19, 2021.

Two of these eight semi-finalists will then progress to a broader-ranging final on 21 October, which will include entrants from other fields of technology beyond sextech. There will be 10 finalists for this last stage of the competition, taking place as part of the wider business conference, Wolves Summit, organization. The winning startup is expected to win funding, although the exact amount hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Previous Sx Tech Event startup pitch competition winners were awarded €50,000 in funding, with organizers saying this year’s entrants should “expect nothing less” for the 2021 winner. Entrants will also be allowed to pitch remotely if they can’t get to Poland for the event.

To qualify for entry, startups must have created a sex tech product that fits into at least one of the following categories: immersive entertainment, interconnectivity/remote sex, virtual sex/augmentation, new media, sex education and sexual wellness.

Jury members for the competition will include Sx Tech CEO and founder Ola Miedzynska and Soumyadip Rakshit, CEO and co-founder at sex toy company MysteryVibe.

The 2021 Sx Tech Event is set to take place in Wrocław, Poland, and is being organized in conjunction with the business networking conference Wolves Summit. It will be the third incarnation of the conference, and is set to feature sextech product-related talks plus networking sessions for sex tech entrepreneurs.

Speakers set for the 2021 event include Dr Alexandra James, a researcher at La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health, and Society; Moe Helmy, events director of adult industry website XBIZ, and Bree Mills, chief creative officer at porn streaming site Adult Time.

The November 2020 Sx Tech Event was altered to become a purely online event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting organizers to move towards hybrid online/offline events for future editions. Tickets allowing both physical and virtual entry to the event are on sale now, starting from €45.