Diolog wins the Melbourne Pitch, taking home prize of up to $100K

This evening in Melbourne, SmartCompany hosted its second instalment of the Pitch, an early stage startup competition, with Diolog named the winner.

Held at The Commons in Cremorne, the event was created in partnership with AWS, VentureCrowd and Startup Victoria, with a packed room in attendance to hear six early stage startups pitch their ideas to an esteemed judging panel.

Our guest judging panel, Christie Jenkins of Blackbird, Jodie Imam of Tractor Ventures, Jun Qu of Main Sequence, Steve Maarbani of VentureCrowd and John Kearney of AWS, announced Diolog founder Amy Benson as the winner due to her expertise, “ten out of ten” pitch delivery, and the simplicity of her solution.

Now, Diolog receives a $100,000 boost in AWS Activate credits and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with VentureCrowd’s CEO.

Diolog is “the world’s first two-way retail investor communication software”. It effectively opens up easy communication between individual investors and listed companies — a current pain point as board members are currently too time-poor to engage with investors, many investors lack confidence in companies they invest in and cannot communicate with them.

“Absolutely explosive pitch — delivery ten out of ten,” said the judges after deliberation.

“Diolog captured the audience from the get go, came across as an expert. We had confidence in her knowledge and rock solid responses to the Q&A.”

“Simplicity of the solution was a standout” for the panel, who went on to say, “Benson has thought through the business model in great depth, and based it on what her customers are already spending — no friction for the end user. It’s free for them, which it has to be. Great understanding of the market, and Benson drew a beautiful link between building relationships and growing the share price.

“We would love to see her expand her vision into private companies and startups. We should all be customers,” they concluded.

Attendees in a packed room included a vast range of startups and VC community members, there to learn more about Australia’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs’ big ideas.

In a chat with SmartCompany after the event, Benson said she was excited to celebrate with her team and plan her next move with the win.

SmartCompany congratulates Diolog on its success, and extends that to all other shortlisted candidates for their incredible pitches, along with the wider applicants.