Events and media company Esports Insider has announced this year’s winner of pitch investment competition The Clutch live during industry festival ESI London 2023.
Portable gaming setup UNEVN was chosen as the winner of the competition, which saw four finalists pitch their startups live in front of a crowd and panel of judges.
Held since 2019, The Clutch is a live pitch investment competition open to startups in or prior to their first seed round that have a focus on the esports, gaming and creator space.
The winner of The Clutch 2023 is UNEVN, an esports-focused portable gaming setup. Based in Espoo, Finland, the startup boasts an all-in-one portable gaming setup designed to make the frequent travel required of esports easy.
Featuring desk, computer, peripherals and other essential gaming hardware all in one package, UNEVN claims its product is made-for-esports and has a 1-minute setup time. The company says it aims to simplify the setup process at bootcamps and LAN parties.
UNEVN takes home the £3000 first-place cash prize, a prestigious trophy, alongside business support from headline partners HSBC UK and EXCEL Esports.
HSBC UK and EXCEL ESPORTS will provide UNEVN with business opportunities through HSBC’s global network, access to marketing workshops and brand building with EXCEL ESPORTS, and usage of EXCEL’s London and Berlin offices.
Judges for this year’s competition included Will Turner, Head of Strategic Growth Partnership & Innovation at HSBC UK; Kartik Arya, Co Head of HSBC Kinetic; Mark Carter, Commercial Director of EXCEL ESPORTS; and Lisa Hau, COO of Bidstack.
Judges made their choices after each of the four finalists gave a live five minute pitch presentation, followed by a ten minute Q&A with judges about the company’s product and business plan.
The other three finalists at this year’s competition included Mapshot (a branding agency with a focus on in-game branding experiences), GameStars Inc. (a mobile competitive platform for after-hours gamers) and SONIX (an ultra-low latency and HD voice chat designed for gamers).
Winners of previous editions of The Clutch have gone on to become successful businesses. Previous winners include Mouseskins, iTero Gaming, TEAMS.GG, G-Science and more.
