A few weeks ago the Association of German Shipowners (Verein Deutscher Reeder), supported by the Maritime Cluster (Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland), invited maritime start-ups from all around the globe to apply for the PitchBlue event in Hamburg. The idea behind PitchBlue is to offer a platform for start-ups to present their solution to challenges for the maritime industry with a focus on ship owners and ship managers.

We were thrilled to have been selected by the expert jury - consisting of six managing directors from the industry - as one of 10 finalists that were given the chance to present their idea in front of a professional audience.

The event took place last Thursday. Each start-up had a three minutes pitch followed by a five minutes Q&A session. We had to go first. Given that three minutes is not much time to hold a long speech, we concentrated our pitch on the key benefits that Closelink as online platform provides to its customers: centralized information, cost transparency and process automation.

It seemed that our message has been well received. We are more than happy to announce that we have been rewarded with both the audience and the jury price! What an overwhelming night!

A big thank you to the event organizers, other participants and all spectators!

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