The 1682 Conference, hosted by O3, came to an exciting end with the Venture Awards, where some of Philadelphia’s most promising AI-driven startups took the stage to compete for a $5,000 prize, a year of mentorship from Philadelphia investors, and 20 hours of strategic consulting from O3. This exciting pitch competition showcased the innovative ways AI is being used to address real-world challenges, offering attendees a glimpse into the future of AI-driven business solutions. The finalists—Secondthought, Sahay AI, and pre.dev—each presented innovative concepts, with Sahay AI ultimately taking home the prize.

The finalists

Secondthought

First to pitch was Secondthought, a revolutionary AI personas platform designed to transform the way brands conduct market and product research. Companies have traditionally spent vast amounts of time and resources gathering market insights, often waiting weeks or even months to get meaningful feedback. Secondthought eliminates these inefficiencies by providing faster, cheaper, and more reliable results.

The platform allows users to conduct market and product research at scale, using AI to synthesize data and create personas in a fraction of the time. By automating the research process, Secondthought helps brands go to market faster and with better preparation, offering insights that previously would have cost tens of thousands of dollars. This system doesn’t replace human researchers but instead enhances their capabilities by providing a hub for rapid, AI-driven research. The startup’s pitch demonstrated its potential to revolutionize industries that rely heavily on consumer data, making it a strong contender for the award.

Sahay AI

The next pitch came from Sahay AI, the eventual winner of the 1682 Venture Awards. Sahay AI is addressing a long-standing problem in the railway industry—outdated and inefficient inspection methods that have led to billions of dollars in losses and thousands of preventable accidents. Their AI-powered solution leverages advanced machine learning models, a real-time monitoring dashboard, and portable robots to transform how railways conduct inspections.

Currently, railway inspectors still use manual methods from the 1950s, walking the tracks to identify faults, leading to inefficiencies, costly delays, and safety hazards. Sahay AI’s solution drastically improves the process, increasing inspection speed by 10 times while reducing costs by 90%. Their AI system autonomously logs faults, identifies missing elements, and ensures overall track health, providing a modern, data-driven alternative to the manual inspections still prevalent in this $100 billion industry. The company is already in talks with major rail companies, exploring pilot contracts to implement its innovative AI technology on a larger scale.

pre.dev

Last was pre.dev, a product architect platform that simplifies the development process from idea to execution. pre.dev takes product and feature ideas and transforms them into fully fledged architecture, complete with documentation, roadmaps, and even a boilerplate codebase. By automating key aspects of project planning, Pre.dev reduces the time it takes for startups to move from ideation to launch.

During the pitch, pre.dev demonstrated how its platform guides users through the essential phases of project planning, including Project Discovery, Technical Architecture, and Product Roadmap creation. Its standout feature is the automation of documentation, such as Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) and Statements of Work (SOWs), which are critical for aligning development teams. Additionally, pre.dev’s dynamic visual representation of technical architecture allows for real-time adjustments, ensuring that the project evolves smoothly. By integrating with popular project management tools like Jira and Linear, pre.dev ensures seamless collaboration across teams. This platform offers a streamlined approach to product development that could dramatically increase the efficiency of any AI-driven startup.

The judging panel

The pitches were judged by an expert panel from the session “Investing in AI: Separating hype from real value.” The panel, moderated by Sushma Rajagopalan from Rittenhouse Ventures, featured Russ Kliman of Future Crafted, Emily Foote from Osage Venture Partners, and Omar Mencin of Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Together, they brought a wealth of experience in venture capital and AI investment, carefully assessing each startup’s potential to generate meaningful value in the AI space.

The panel discussion preceding the awards focused on how AI investments are shifting beyond the initial wave of infrastructure and “ChatGPT for everything” solutions. The judges evaluated each startup’s ability to solve real-world problems with AI, focusing on the scalability, innovation, and potential return on investment of their solutions.

The 2024 winner: Sahay AI

After much deliberation, Sahay AI was declared the winner of the 2024 Venture Awards. Their pitch stood out not only for its innovative use of AI but also for its potential to save lives and drastically reduce costs in an industry that has long relied on outdated technology. By modernizing railway inspections, Sahay AI is poised to make a significant impact on the safety and efficiency of rail travel worldwide.

Reflecting on the win, Tejas Agarwal, founder of Sahay AI, shared his excitement:

“The 1682 Conference was an incredible event, filled with creative ideas, fellow innovators, and thought leaders in AI. Winning the Venture Award is a huge milestone for Sahay AI, and it reinforces our commitment to revolutionizing safety through AI and robotics. It was energizing to see so many talented individuals share our passion for solving real-world problems and offer their support and ideas. Overall, I am grateful to have been part of the conference and am leaving with fresh ideas, experienced mentors, and my new friends at O3 to accompany me on this journey.”

The 1682 Venture Awards provided a valuable platform for all three finalists to showcase their groundbreaking innovations and gain invaluable guidance from industry leaders. Each company brought a unique vision for how AI can drive real-world change—whether it’s accelerating market research with Secondthought, transforming product development with Pre.dev, or revolutionizing railway safety with Sahay AI.

Sahay AI’s innovative solution stood out, tackling a decades-old problem in the railway industry with advanced AI and robotics. Their win signals a brighter future for AI-driven safety solutions, and their success reinforces the growing potential for AI to address critical infrastructure challenges.

We congratulate Sahay AI on their well-deserved win and look forward to seeing their impact grow. We also celebrate the achievements of Secondthought and Pre.dev, whose forward-thinking solutions are helping pave the way for a smarter, more efficient world powered by AI. Each of these startups exemplifies the creative problem-solving and innovation at the heart of the 1682 Venture Awards.