Here are the 5 startups the Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, chose for its next pitch day

CBA’s venture-scaling arm,  x15ventures, has singled out 5 startups to present for investment at its upcoming Pitch Day.

The VC accelerator had more than 60 entrepreneurs apply for its Xccelerate21 program, which this year is looking for ideas around how retail customers shop, pay and are rewarded.

Ten companies were chosen for this week’s initial pitch, held online with Australia’s eastern seaboard in lockdown, before five were chosen for the shark tank-style pitch next week on August 12.

• Bramp, an all in one branding platform for startups and SMEs;
• Four2, a customer recommendation platform providing best offer, price or discount for each customer;
• Splashup, an AI enabled business helping customers find the right product at the right time;
• Shopyou, an omnichannel experience for shopping centres, retailers and customers; and
• Sales Optic, a visual way for sellers to analyse and understand their sales data.

The winning startup will be offered a $150,000 investment from x15 through a standard SAFE note to get their idea off the ground, with CBA acting as a strategic partner as the build out the venture.

Dr Isaac Donnelly, founder and CEO of Four2 said the most interesting part of the Xccelerate21 program was hearing about the integration with CBA.

“We got a lot of value learning how to improve our outreach to small businesses from Australia’s largest bank,” he said.

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