Tech Startup Skignz Wins 4th Annual Thinking Digital Startup Competition

Skignz, a startup business in the technology sector was announced as this year’s Thinking Digital Startup Competition winner after beating eleven other companies who were shortlisted in this prestigious competition. Skignz, who create signs and 3D objects which are placed in the environment to then be viewed via a mobile device camera, received a prize of £500, free tickets to next year’s Thinking Digital Conference as well as additional prizes from Colorado-based cloud services provider SendGrid and Newcastle-based legal services provider Particular. Simon Brown from Skignz, co-located in Stockton-on-Tees and Las Vegas said:  “Skignz are delighted to win as we knew it was a tough field of entries. The bootcamp pitch was a great environment to be in and the buzz around the competition was infectious. The whole experience of pitching, listening to the other speakers and finally winning the overall award is fantastic for the Skignz team and also for the Skignz brand as it’s allowed us to showcase our technology to a whole new audience or largely early adopters." The Thinking Digital Conference, which took place at Sage Gateshead, explored how technology is shaping our future. With speakers this year including Holly Lloyd of Pixar, Andy Stanford-Clark of IBM, Max Lines of Uber and LJ Rich from BBC Click, the conference is one ofthe world’s leading forums to discuss how developments in technology, science, media, business and the arts and can be practically applied in life-changing ways. As part of the conference, Thinking Digital have, for the past four years, held a Startup Competition offering new businesses the chance of a platform at the conference as well as a basket of prizes. This year, twelve companies were shortlisted, rather than the usual ten, as the level of competition was so high. Thinking Digital’s Herb Kim said: “The sheer number and quality of entries to the Thinking Digital Startup Competition was fabulous. That we had to raise the number of shortlisted startups from 10 to 12 says it all. The pitches were the best ever and the two finalists were well deserved. My congratulations to our winner Skigns and finalist Bristlr. Equally fabulous was that we saw great entries from around the UK but particularly from across the North with shortlisted startups from Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Teesside and Newcastle!" This year’s runner-up were Bristlr who are a part social network and part dating service, connecting people who either have a beard or who like beards. John Kershaw, Founder of Bristlr said:  “Taking part in the Thinking Digital Startup Competition was really great for Bristlr. The crowd were lovely and the experience of pitching to such a tech savvy audience was really fun. It's taught us a lot about how we pitch, and hopefully next time we won't be quite so nervous (and there'll be more beards in the room!).”