AI startups dominate SBC First Pitch shortlist

• SBC and BettingStartups have selected five finalists for the 2026 SBC First Pitch competition
• The final takes place on 1 October at SBC Summit Lisbon, with a prize package worth over €100,000
• Judges include representatives from Velo Partners, AWS, Waterhouse VC and Discerning Capital

SBC has confirmed the five startups competing in the 2026 edition of First Pitch, its pitch contest run in partnership with BettingStartups. Four of the five finalists lean on artificial intelligence, covering competitive intelligence, player engagement and fraud monitoring.

The final takes place on Thursday, 1 October, on the Product Innovation Showcase Stage at SBC Summit 2026 in Lisbon. Each finalist gets three minutes to pitch, followed by a three-minute Q&A with the judging panel.

Five pitches, one stage

Betsy is a social prediction gaming platform built to turn bets and predictions into shareable content. Gmonitor, an AI-powered competitive intelligence tool, tracks market activity including promotions, advertising, game catalogues and regulatory shifts to help operators benchmark against rivals.

InsightPlay.ai offers autonomous AI agents covering player acquisition, retention, reactivation and support. Safefy applies AI to transaction monitoring, aiming to flag suspicious activity before losses occur. Whizgen AI, also known as Whizdom AI, provides three linked tools handling support queries, personalised game recommendations, and churn-risk flagging.

The contest sits within SBC Summit’s expanded Startup Hub, hosted by BettingStartups, which brings exhibition space, networking and startup-focused programming to the three-day event — a scaled-up follow-on from June’s First Pitch applications window, which drew entries from across the industry.

Who’s footing the bill

The winning startup takes home a support package assembled from several industry partners.

Are You Watching This?! and MetaBet are providing a year of API access worth €42,000, while SBC Events is offering a 3x3m exhibition booth and complimentary passes to SBC Summit 2027 worth €15,000.

SBC Media is contributing six months of advertising and two featured editorials worth €11,000, while AWS is providing €10,000 in promotional credits and CertiIQ a compliance platform subscription worth €7,400.

Square in the Air will produce a winner’s video package with social promotion and competitor analysis worth €5,000, and Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC is offering €4,000 in gaming-related legal services.

Rounding out the package, Vegas Kings is providing a brand or web design package worth €3,000, and GameOn is contributing press releases, a trade media interview and newsletter inclusion worth €2,750. Organisers value the combined package at more than €100,000.

The panel with the final say

This year’s judges include Rob Duboff (Director, Velo Partners), Willy Joseph (Global SA Leader, Games, Betting & Gaming and Sports, AWS), Paris Smith (Founder & CEO, Defy the Odds), Tom Waterhouse (Founder and CIO, Waterhouse VC) and David Williams (Partner, Discerning Capital).

Paul Mills, Senior Event Director, SBC, said:

“What stands out about this year’s finalists is the range of problems they’re trying to solve — from player retention to transaction monitoring and competitive intelligence. Each one is tackling a genuine industry challenge, but from a completely different angle.”

“One thing’s for sure, the judges are going to have their work cut out for them given the amount of talent on stage this year.”

Jesse Learmonth, Founder of BettingStartups and host of SBC First Pitch, said:

“First Pitch gives founders a unique opportunity to demonstrate what they have built in front of people who can help them move forward. The pitch itself may only last a few minutes, but the introductions, feedback and conversations that come from it can have a much longer-term impact.”

First Pitch closes out SBC Summit 2026, which runs from 29 September to 1 October at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa and MEO Arena, alongside newly expanded conference tracks and the wider Startup Hub programming.

The event is expected to draw more than 40,000 betting and gaming professionals.