It’s not often that a genuine, card-carrying Royal family gets involved in technology startups. But over the last few years, the Duke Of York, (yes, of England fame) has dedicated himself to shining a spotlight both on technology entrepreneurs and initiatives to promote STEM skills among young people. His ‘Pitch @ Palace’ events — where startup get to literally pitch — are now a mainstay of the UK tech scene, and switch between St James’ Palace and — sometimes — even Buckingham Palace itself. The Duke has drawn around him a number of leading investors and entrepreneurs to promote both innovation and technology entrepreneurialism in manner which is rarely seen at the highest echelons of the average country.
Now, the Duke has opened up his initiative to the general public, creating a “People’s Choice Award” in which anyone can vote on their favourite new startup. All 42 startups participating in “Pitch@Palace 3.0” – the third edition of his event – can be voted on, and you can watch the pitch videos to decide, and vote here. Voting closes at 17:00 on 23rd March. The winner will be announced at the next Pitch@Palace event in a month’s time.
TechCrunch will be covering the outcome of the vote and the event, so get voting!
Here’s the Duke explaining how it’ll work: