The Nest i/o hosted the Startup Weekend Karachi 2017 from March 24 to March 26 in Karachi to bring together local entrepreneurs and industry leaders to collaborate on ideas, form teams and pitch in front of a panel of judges, said a press release from the technology incubator.

Startup Weekend is a global event held in over 150 cities all over the world.

During the three day event over 60 ideas were pitched, 27 companies were shortlisted and three top teams were picked with special mention for two others, added the press release.

Over 60 ideas were pitched on Friday across a diverse field of topics. The audience voted and selected 25 teams, which were formed around 25 of these ideas.

The teams spent working Saturday and Sunday prototyping, testing and validating products developed, said The Nest i/o.

“The work was interspersed with mini-sessions from speakers who coached the audience on various topics like entrepreneurship, video-marketing, and the art of pitching,” said the press release.

Final presentations were held on Sunday night, where each team was given three minutes to pitch with two minutes being allotted for a question and answer session.

The second runner up for Startup Weekend Karachi 2017 was Gardener, an online gardening service which provides gardening services through an App, while the runner up was TrashIt, a composting bin which enables people to dispose off their trash more efficiently.

The winner of the event was Mirror Magican, a mirror that would take a picture using augmented reality and picture automation.

The Nest i/o is a technology incubator and community hub launched by the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) with global partners Google for Entrepreneurs and Samsung, and through a supporting grant from the US State Department.

It provides budding entrepreneurs with space, testing devices, mentoring, a specialized curriculum, access to investors and to a vast network of business people. It also provides them with an opportunity to form life-long connections with individuals like themselves.