10 startups set to make waves at Cannes Lions

The line between digital agencies and startups has been blurring for some time now. Since we first wrote about it back in 2013, it’s become increasingly commonplace for agencies to take a startup-style approach to their operations. Perhaps even more significantly, a number of the big agency groups are investing in startups and launching in-house accelerators.

And in what may be the clearest sign that the advertising world is 100% into startups, Cannes Lions will once again be hosting its Start-Up Academy, which will take place during Lions Innovation.

Led by R/GA and Google Zoo CCO, Patrick Collister, the Start-up Academy programme features mentoring, insights and inspiration from speakers including IPG Chairman and CEO, Michael Roth, former P&G CMO Jim Stengel, AOL Digital Prophet David Shing, R/GA Founder Bob Greenberg and more.

At the culmination of the programme, participants will have the opportunity to pitch their products and services to key brand and agency decision-makers at a showcase on Friday 24 June on the YouTube Beach. The showcase is open to Cannes Lions delegates to attend, who can also meet the companies in the new Lions Innovation Start-up Village during the Festival.

The 10 companies chosen are:

1. Clarif.ai (United States)

An artificial intelligence company that excels in visual recognition, solving real-world problems for businesses and developers

2. Codec (UK)

Empowering marketers and creatives with the empirical evidence needed to make better decisions through AI and Machine Learning

3. CrowdAnalyzer (UAE)

uses ground-breaking technologies such as Proprietary Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing to make computers as linguistically proficient as humans in Arabic

4. Journy (United States)

Creating tailor-made travel plans with recommendations from top chefs, sommeliers, and local experts

5. Klickly (United States)

The data-driven impulse payment solution for social streams and mobile experiences

6. Mush (UK)

The simple, free way to meet local, like-minded mums

7. Relative Insights (UK)

Objectively and comparatively analyses how brands, competitors and consumers use language, delivering the results as data that illustrates how language resonates with and/or is perceived by audiences

8. StriVR (United States)

Connects brands and sports organizations with powerful VR activations, delivering custom 360° experiences, interactive VR storytelling, and branded spherical content to engage fans and consumers

9. Twyla (Germany)

An artificial intelligence messaging platform that puts a smart chatbot in your live chat channels, to answer questions, deflect tickets and free up your agents

10. Wanderbrief (Netherlands)

A global community where people can exchange their creative skills for meaningful work-life experiences abroad
The companies will undertake a special programme during the Festival to sharpen their identity, focus business development plans, and market themselves to international brands and advertisers more effectively.

According to a press release sent to Ventureburn, 2015 graduates will bring their experience back to the Festival this year as part of the Lions Innovation content programme. On the Discovery Stage, Ingenious.iowill speak about IoT and the connected world and In Loco Media will talk location tech, while gold Lion winners LISNR will appear on the Inspiration Stage.