Publicis Groupe, one of the “big four” advertising agencies in the world, has revealed the 90 startups that won the Publicis90 global initiative at the Viva Technology Conference in Paris, France.
The 90 winners will receive investment ranging from $11k to $554k alongside mentoring from the advertising giant.
The jury that chose the 90 startups picked a wide variety of startups. Education platforms for international students, a ridesharing app for the Middle East, a smartwatch for people with Alzheimer’s disease, and even an Airbnb app for long term rentals made it to the final 90.
Publicis picked three of its favorite projects:
Recast.AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7cInZLZGVU
A way for businesses to create artificial intelligence bots for Web and mobile applications, similar to bot programs by Facebook and Apple. The bots work using voice recognition, and could provide 24/7 customer support.
Emerald Medical Applications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHMW1ACJd8I
An Israeli startup that provides advanced image recognition technology to detect skin cancer faster, alongside providing tools for dermatologists to detect other skin illnesses.
Wiseye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9O02F4Hcfs
An Israeli Internet of Things (IoT) startup for the retail industry. Uses sensors and other data sources to create detailed analytics on customer behavior and alert shopkeepers to out of stock items.
Publicis took in thousands of entries
The ad firm said that it received 3,500 entries were submitted from 130 countries, including projects from Publicis employees and students. The country with the highest amount of winning startups was the U.S., followed closely by France and the United Kingdom.
The advertising firm did not say how much it was spending altogether on the project, but it does show Publicis’ interest in diversifying its incomes. While the fund may seem like a charitable act, if any of these startups make it big, it will be receiving a slice of the action.
