Aussie ecommerce startup Splashup has emerged as the winner of Commonwealth Bank's X15ventures annual startup pitch event, bagging a commitment from the venture scaling entity to buy $150,000 worth of shares in a future pricing round.
This year, Xccelerate21 asked founders to reimagine how customers shop, pay and are rewarded throughout their retail experience.
More than 80 entrepreneurs applied to take part in the programme - all done virtually due to Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. From there, only 10 were invited to the Community Day, which concluded with five selected to pitch to a stellar panel of judges.
Splashup co-founder Nathalie Rafeh, explains the startup's winning proposition: "Splashup's proposition is to integrate with ecommerce websites and be a product discovery experience on-top; helping shoppers nudge their specific results until they find the one they love, like finding a 'similar dress but with a different cut' or a 'similar top but on sale'."
x15ventures head of portfolio, Yish Koh, says: “The retail sector in Australia is poised to become one of the largest beneficiaries of digital disruption, yet when searching online we’re overwhelmed by choice and comparison is so difficult. At x15, we’re focussed on accelerating the pace of change, and through our Xccelerate21 program, we’re able to open our doors to earlier stage startups and entrepreneurs, help test and evolve their thinking, and reimagine the store of the future.”
Previous showcase winners include small business outfit givvable, which picked up a $300,000 investment from CBA and Microsoft, and OwnHome, which last month raised $3.6 million for its rent-to-buy product.