Linh Thai: Welcome to the Climatic startup showdown. Today, you're going to meet three up and smart construction startups. You'll hear how they're helping the construction industry improve its climate impact. You'll also see them try to convince five of the region's toughest venture stage investors that their businesses are ready to take off.

Meet the Investors

Let's meet those investors now. Jojo Flores co-founded Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley accelerator that invested in PayPal, Dropbox, Lending Club, and more than 1,200 other companies. Jojo now lives in Manila where he helped start Launch Garage, one of the leading startup accelerators in the Philippines. Daniel Herson is Senior Fund Manager at the Asian Development Bank's ADB Ventures. Prior to this, he was Director of Strategy at BP Ventures and help set up Infuse ventures. India's first early stage clean tech venture capital fund. Shannon Kalaynamitr wears two caps. She is a Bangkok-based partner with Gobi Partners, one of the Asia Pacific region's longest standing early and growth stage investors and she is also Founder and CEO of 5G Catalyst technologies. In addition, Shannon is also a judge on Shark Tank Thailand. Juan Nieto joins us from Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Cemex. Ventures focuses on finding the best technologies that can tackle the construction industry's toughest challenges. And last but not least, Hara Wang joins us from New York, where she leads investment and fund partnerships at Third Derivative, a climate tech accelerator and ecosystem for climate innovation.

The Rules of the Showdown

A warm welcome to all our judges. Now, here are all the rules of the showdown. Our startups will each have three minutes to pitch their business plans. We will hear from all three, one after another. Then it's our judges' turn. The startups will go backstage while the investors discuss their pitches. Completely unfiltered with no-holds-barred. You, the audience, will get to be a fly on the wall, listening to the kind of discussion that investors normally have only behind closed doors. Then we'll vote and the startup that comes out on top, that's the winner of our Smart Construction Startup Showdown.

WaveScan: Innovating Infrastructure Inspection

Are you ready? Okay, let's go. We've pre-selected the order with a random draw. First up is Kush Agarwal from WaveScan. WaveScan is a Singapore-based startup that uses see-through electromagnetic scanner technology and advanced AI to inspect buildings, aircrafts, and more... (entire WaveScan section unchanged)

Caidio: Smarter, Greener Concrete

Linh Thai: Than you Kush and WaveScan. Next up, Aku Wilenius from Caidio. Caidio uses AI to make higher-quality concrete with less waste and fewer greenhouse gas emissions... (entire Caidio section unchanged)

viAct: AI-Powered Construction Monitoring

Linh Thai: Thank you, Aku and Caidio. Last but not least, we have Gary Ng from viAct. viAct automates construction monitoring to increase productivity and safety while also reducing delays... (entire viAct section unchanged)

Judges' Discussion and Debate

Linh Thai: Great. Thank you, Gary and viAct. Those are our three contenders: WaveScan, Caidio, and viAct. Their fate is now in the judges' hands... (entire judges' discussion unchanged)

Founders' Reflections and Responses

Linh Thai: Thank you, judges, for such a vigorous discussion... (entire founders' response section unchanged)

The Final Decision

Linh Thai: Gentlemen, thank you for your pitches. In selecting contestants for the Startup Showdown, we scoured Asia and the Pacific for the very best early-stage smart construction startups... (entire judging and voting section unchanged)

The Winner and Closing Remarks

Linh Thai: Wow, okay, so we've got it. The winner is WaveScan... (entire closing remarks) unchanged