Scottish tech investor conference EIE21 has announced a “revamp” of its pitching process for this year’s event.

Company founders normally get one minute to pitch ideas to potential investors from seed level to up to multimillion series A and later-stage investment. However, this year EIE has extended the length of the pitches to three minutes.

Organisers say that the virtual nature of the event along with the quality of the 2021 applicants means extra time is warranted. It will also allow firms to make more of an impact with their pitches.

The extra time will be awarded to the 25 companies taking part this year, while 10 other firms have been selected to pitch for five minutes followed by a five-minute Q&A with the investor panel.

EIE21’s investor panel this year includes SEP’s Stuart Paterson, Silicon Valley Bank’s Flavia Popescu-Richardson, and Old College Capital’s Andrea Young.

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Commenting on the changes, Steve Ewing, Director of Entrepreneurship at Bayes Centre and EIE21 lead, said: “We have a particularly strong set of companies pitching this year and that, coupled with our ever more flexible virtual environment, persuaded us to allow each of them more pitching time.

“It was hard to pick the 10 who get the opportunity to make the extended pitch, but for all thirty-five companies on the day, EIE provides a platform to get onto the radar of investors from across the globe and make connections that can lead to investment.”

The 10 firms selected for the extra five-minute pitches are:

• Beta Bugs – agrifood tech firm based at Easter Bush Campus and founded by Dr Thomas Farrugia
• Bridgeweave – a fintech aiming to transform how the wealth and investments industry engages with its customers through AI and new tech.
• Earth Blox – led by CEO Genevieve Patenaude, is harnessing the power of satellite data without the requirement for computer coding.
• Ionburst – a data protection, compliance and security startup based in Edinburgh.
• iOpt – an IoT services firm that enables remote monitoring of a property’s environmental conditions and energy/heating assets.
• GoBubble –  a safety technology company with a mission to “make the internet safer for children”.
• LiberEat – develops technology aimed at improving food allergy communications for restaurant chains, supermarkets and food producers
• Nebu-Flow –  The firm’s mission is to “unlock the delivery of the next generation” of inhaled drugs for patients with widespread respiratory disorders
• Net AI – a University of Edinburgh AI-driven analytics spin-out aiming to “revolutionise cloud-based virtual network management”
• Transwap – a fintech company that aids businesses to trade globally and helping to move money “faster, cheaper and safer”

EIE21 organisers say they will be announcing the keynote speaker lineup later this month.

In April, the EIE team launched the EIE Scottish Startup Survey for 2021, the first of its kind to examine the Scottish startup ecosystem. This year’s survey asks startups across Scotland about the main challenges faced and opportunities achieved in a year characterised by the ongoing Covid pandemic.

You can find out more about the EIE21 lineup, and get tickets to the event here.