Action Face took home bragging rights for winning the SXSW pitch competition in the Entertainment, Gaming & Content category, where it competed against four other startups across the U.S. and Europe.
The San Francisco company developed a way to use facial scanning to create semi-realistic animations that people can turn into 3D printed figurines as well as shareable digital avatars.
"It is the job of entertainers to create a hero that you can identify with,” co-founder and CEO Kenny Davis told me ahead of the event. “We're creating a platform for people to become the hero."
Davis co-founded the startup in 2018 with Chief Product Officer Joby Otero, Chief Design Officer David Kunitz, COO Don Marini and CTO Luther Miller.
Forty-five startups from around the world competed across nine categories, and there were four additional honors for: best speed pitch; best bootstrap; winner of diversity, equity and inclusion; and best in show.
The best-in-show award went to Portland-based Hilos, which makes sustainable shoes with 3D printed components that are designed to be disassembled, recycled and reused at the end of their lifecycle.
San Francisco-based Mozart Data also competed in the Enterprise and Smart Data category against four other startups from Houston, D.C. and New York. New York-based Syrup Tech won.
Mozart Data provides companies with an all-in-one modern data stack built on top of Snowflake infrastructure to make data management and analysis easier.
"It's always nerve wracking and exciting to go pitch yourself, to put yourself out there," co-founder and CEO Peter Fishman told me previously "especially for a technical founder" because we "live, eat, breathe, sleep" our product.
It was a great experience overall, Fishman said on Monday. He's proud of what the team has accomplished, and it was a moment for a handful of its normally distributed workforce to get together in person.
It was also great to interact with a more diverse cross section of startups than he typically sees back at home.
"I'm used to running around San Francisco and seeing SaaS players," Fishman said. But in Austin this weekend, there were lots of other types of emerging technologies represented, including in the entertainment and art sectors.
And in addition to trying to leave a memorable impression on judges and investors, there was a focus on showing how the technology will benefit society.
"You can often make money doing something good," Fishman said, "but this was an explicit part of the judging."
To date, Action Face has raised $8.8 million in seed funding and Mozart Data has raised $4 million in seed funding.
