Urban Machine, a robotics company that reclaims wood waste for reuse as premium lumber, was selected as a finalist in the Smart Citites, Transportation, & Sustainability category for the 15th annual SXSW Pitch (formerly SXSW Accelerator). SXSW Pitch is the marquee event of South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference & Festivals (March 10 – 19, 2023), where leading startups from around the world showcase some of the most impressive technology innovations to a panel of hand-picked judges and a live audience. Out of the 731 companies that applied to present at SXSW Pitch 2023 Urban Machine was selected among the 40 finalists spanning eight separate categories.
The two-day event will be held the first weekend of SXSW Conference & Festivals, Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12, on the fourth floor of the Downtown Hilton Austin, Salon D/E. The event will then culminate with the 2023 SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, March 12, where winning startups from each category and a Best in Show winner will be announced and honored in Salon H on the sixth floor of the Hilton Hotel.
SXSW Pitch will feature finalists across the following 8 categories: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics & Voice, Enterprise & Smart Data, Entertainment, Media & Content, Food, Nutrition & Health, Future of Work, Innovative World Technologies, Metaverse & Web3, and Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics.
Urban Machine will present among four other companies in the Smart Citites, Transportation, & Sustainability category on Sunday, March 12, 2023. “We should always think about the full life cycle of products we manufacture. Landfills should never be an option; nature does not have a landfill; everything is circular,” said Urban Machine CEO Eric Law. “Urban Machine is closing the loop on lumber by allowing it to be reclaimed so it can be used to build again.”
With the use of AI, Urban Machine is on a mission to reclaim the 37M tons of wood waste from construction and demolition for reuse as high volume, locally sourced, premium lumber products. “Since its beginning in 2009, SXSW Pitch has significantly helped shape the early-stage venture ecosystem and connected promising companies with the resources they need to thrive, giving promising companies the resources they need to succeed when it matters most,” said SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine. “Of the 613 companies who have been selected as finalists since the competition’s inception, over 93 percent have gone on to secure funding and numerous have been acquired by the likes Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable, Meta, Michelin, Constant Contact, and Harmon. We’re excited to see this year’s impressive group of startups take to the stage and show us how their innovations will change the world.”