Highlights from Day 3 of Web Summit 2022

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PITCH winner Theneo on Centre Stage

And that’s a wrap, folks! On the final day of Web Summit 2023, we had our very first Georgian PITCH winner, crypto came under scrutiny, and women’s reproductive health fell into focus.

A celebrated actor and activist discussing how to transform the world? A startup star in the making emerging? A tech giant offering an olive branch to a former president? Only at Web Summit…

“We are the first Georgian company to ever go this far in any kind of big startup competition.”

– Ana Robakidze, Theneo founder and CEO

Theneo, an AI startup from Georgia, was crowned winner of Web Summit’s startup competition, PITCH, in partnership with Siemens.

105 of the 2,296 startups exhibiting at Web Summit competed in the group rounds of PITCH, with Gataca, an enterprise software solutions startup from Spain, and Biome Diagnostics, a medtech and pharma startup from Austria, finishing as runners up.

“We are the first Georgian company to ever go this far in any kind of big startup competition. So I feel like it’s beyond just me or my company. It also represents a lot for my country,” said Ana Robakidze, Theneo founder and CEO.

“Crypto is ruining people’s lives.”

– Molly White, creator, Web3 Is Going Just Great

It was a combative exchange on Centre Stage as our speakers debated the future of cryptocurrency, and its impact on the average user.

“The fact that normal people are being told to put their money into these projects, and then basically have to rely on the goodwill of the projects to maybe compensate them if there’s a hack – if they’re able – but they have no requirement to do so… It’s unreasonable,” said Molly White, creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great.

“Crypto is ruining people’s lives,” she added.

Ben McKenzie discussing crypto at Web Summit 2022(from left) Web 3 Is Going Just Great creator Molly White, actor and Slate journalist Ben McKenzie, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and Wall Street Journal reporter Caitlin Ostroff on Centre Stage. Image: Sam Barnes/Web Summit (​​CC BY 2.0)

Actor and journalist Ben McKenzie also took a crypto-sceptic line, stating that “these currencies are not really currencies, economically”.

Ben had also offered his take on the upsurge of celebrity endorsements of crypto, noting that most of them had been paid in fiat currency rather than crypto, saying, “My guess is that most celebrities got a call from their agent, and they said, ‘Hey, you can get paid X dollars to do almost nothing,’ and the celebrity said, ‘Tell me more’”.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, took up the defence of cryptocurrency, believing it to be the alternative to the existing financial system. “Let’s be honest,” Charles said. “The financial industry fucks people.”

“How can we connect more people throughout the world, raise more money, create more impact, and do it in a more transparent way?”

– Eva Longoria, founder and actor, the Eva Longoria Foundation

“When I heard about NFTs and Web3 and blockchain, I immediately thought, ‘How do we use this for good?’,” said Eva Longoria, founder of the Eva Longoria Foundation, an organisation designed to help Latinas and their families through education and entrepreneurship.

Speaking on the topic of global citizenship, the actor asked, “How can we connect more people throughout the world, raise more money, create more impact, and do it in a more transparent way?”.

Eva, who also co-founded Utopia, an ecosystem bringing Web3 technologies to philanthropic initiatives, said: “Imagine this philanthropic point of view multiplied. […] It’s one of the most beautiful things about NFTs and Web3, when you see the community there. Imagine that lightning pole being philanthropy.”

“Suppose [Meta] throws [Trump] off permanently. He could try to appeal to us.”

– Alan Rusbridger, board member, Oversight Board

The Oversight Board, an independent body established in 2018 to oversee content moderation practices and implementation for Facebook, said it wouldn’t rule out allowing former US president Donald Trump to return to the social media site.

“I suspect what will happen is that somebody very high up in Facebook – probably Nick Clegg – will reach a decision on the terms on which [Trump] is going to be admitted. If he is going to be admitted,” explained Alan Rusbridger, a board member of the Oversight Board.

“I imagine it’ll be something like, ‘we’re going to let you back in, but if you do that again, we will consider a permanent ban’.

“Suppose [Meta] throws him off permanently. He could try to appeal to us,” added Alan, going on to say that the Oversight Board “would not like to ban him indefinitely because that’s not in any terms or conditions”.

“We don’t have targeted treatment for female reproductive issues. That’s a problem for half the population, but all of society.”

– Dina Radenkovic, co-founder and CEO, Gameto

Women’s health in the tech world is a paradox – it’s treated as a gender issue, but that definition undermines the topic’s far-reaching effects.

Sita Chantramonklasri, founder and general partner at Siam Capital, said the term ‘femtech’ “insinuates that these technologies are niche. Women are half the population, and their health affects everyone”.

Sita added that part of the challenge stems from an imbalance in how scientists have studied human biology in the past. “Female anatomy has been studied less than the male anatomy. So already we have less knowledge about how we can address the challenges of women’s health … without this data, it’s hard to build a business case to get funding.”

One of the biggest issues in women’s health – reproduction – is defined by arduous treatments that medicalise women, often with limited success.

“Existing IVF treatment is long, expensive and only has a 27 percent success rate”, said Dina, showing we are still a long way from finding solutions to this issue without first addressing the imbalance in how men and women are treated medically.

Main image of PITCH winner Ana Robakidze, founder and CEO of Theneo, on Centre Stage: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Web Summit (​​CC BY 2.0)

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