The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has announced the top 25 regional qualifiers that will advance to the next round of the Philippine Startup Challenge – Central Visayas Regional Pitching Competition.
The regional qualifiers include 16 startups from Cebu, three from Bohol, five from Negros Oriental, and one from Siquijor. Winners of the regional competition will be endorsed to the DICT main office for the semifinals.
The qualifiers from Cebu are Team Ford and Team Dayon, Cebu Institute of Technology; Team Farm Swappers, Cebu Technological University; Team Band of Brothers, Philippine Science High School-Argao; Team Aloysian Eco Innovators, The Sisters of St. Mary – Girlstown; Team ABAG, Team Paw Buddy, University of Cebu; Team CoTech Solutions, Team PogiMix, University of San Carlos; Team aQuaQuest, Team Civiconnect, Team MISMO, University of San Jose – Recoletos; Team Neo-Coding Artificers, Team LLD Solutions, Team Kbytes, Team incREDibles, and University of the Philippines Cebu.
The three qualifiers from Bohol are Team Trashure, Bohol Island State University; Team We, Holy Name University; and Team CradleTalk, and University of Bohol.
In Negros Oriental, the qualifiers are Team Think FU, Foundation University; Team Motoguard, Metro Dumaguete College; and Team RescueBites, Team Wowie, Team MilaCrew, and Silliman University.
Siquijor’s sole qualifier is Team Azure.
The Regional Pitching Competition is slated to happen on October 13, 2023 through a live and hybrid format in Cebu City. Only one startup from each region will advance to the semifinals.
The Philippine Startup Challenge is DICT’s flagship annual startup pitching competition among senior high school and college students.
It aims to encourage and support the Filipino youth in creating innovative and relevant ICT products and services that may potentially develop into viable business ventures as well as solve social problems.
“This initiative is geared towards promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship in ICT among the youth and in ensuring the continuous creation of investible ideas and startup founders that will expand the Philippine startup ecosystem,” DICT said.
The competition has three stages – Regional Pitching Competition, PSC Semifinals, and PSC Finals.