Wellington startup Eight Wire selected to fly to Silicon Valley as semi-finalist in IBM SmartCamp
After topping the 2015 IBM SmartCamp in Auckland, Wellington company Eight Wire has been selected from 30 winners around
the world to compete at the semi-finals in San Francisco.
The data integration specialist was one of five IT startups from around New Zealand invited by IBM to participate in the
competition, held in Auckland on Thursday, September 17. The 30 regional winners from around the world were then
whittled down to just 10 for the semi-finals.
Eight Wire automates the thousands of hours of work required to move data between databases, files and the cloud. IBM
SmartCamp Auckland’s judges recognising Eight Wire as having a solution to meet the data integration challenges
experienced by nearly all businesses.
“It’s a huge honor,” says Jason Gleason, Founder, Eight Wire. “This gives us a massive platform to show the world what
we can do, and having the backing of a brand like IBM behind us is great.”
The SmartCamp semi-finals will be held in mid October 2015 at LAUNCH scale, an invite only Silicon Valley event where
influential entrepreneurs and tech leaders teach founders how to scale their businesses.
All 10 semi-finalists will be invited back to San Francisco in March 2016 to exhibit in the IBM SmartCamp Pavilion at
LAUNCH Festival, the largest startup event in the world with over 20k attendees.
By December 2015, the top three startups will be chosen to compete in the finals at the LAUNCH Festival, where
entrepreneur and famous blogger Jason Calacanis along with IBM will decide the final winner and crown the IBM Global
Entrepreneur of the Year on stage.
The IBM Global Entrepreneur of the Year will secure a spot in the LAUNCH’s 3-month incubator in Silicon Valley, which
includes a $25k investment.
ENDS