As part of the Extreme Tech Challenge, which is a non-profit organization co-founded by Samsung President and CSO, Young Sohn, two Israeli startups stood upon the winners' podium. With more than 2,400 startups coming from 87 countries, there was only room for 52 of them making the final stages, and actually there were 6 Israeli startups hoping for a shot at gold, including Amai Proteins, CropX Technologies, Beewise, Neteera, TytoCare, and ReWire. .

The challenge's focused categories for innovation covered: agriculture, food & water, cleantech & energy, education, fintech, healthcare, transportation & smart cities, and enabling technologies. This year though, saw two new categories join the competition with awards for female founder and COVID-19 related innovation.

ReWire, which took home the award in the fintech category, provides growth and financial independence for migrant workers. While the other Israeli winner, TytoCare, came through with the new COVID-19 innovation of the year, with its telehealth solution.

The main mission of the XTC challenge is to find ways to improve humanity through technological innovation, bringing together startups, universities, organizations, NGOs, and world leaders to find solutions for the most imminent challenges facing mankind today. Along with Samsung XTC partners include some of the leading organizations and universities in the world: Cisco, Deutsch Telekom, Ford, Intel, University of California, Microsoft, OurCrowd, Zoom, and others.

Rutie Adar, Head of Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center, Israel: “We are extremely proud of the extensive participation of Israeli companies in the final stages of one of the prominent global innovation competitions. It serves as further evidence to the leadership of the startup nation and the main reason that Samsung Electronics continually expands its innovation and investment operations in Israel. XTC contenders demonstrate that technology can be used to make the world a better place. We are here to support them and ensure their developments improve the lives of millions across the globe.”

Getting back to the big winners from the Israeli ecosystem, ReWire's innovative banking platform helps boost economic growth in developing countries, serving the many millions of migrant workers around the world. The platform enables migrant workers easy access and a simplified approach to the sometimes confusing financial landscape of the countries in which they work in. Furthermore, the fintech platform facilitates the opening of bank accounts, simplifies documents, and supports a variety of languages, while encouraging and empowering smarter financial planning for its migrant users.

Though, with the world focused on COVID-19 it's hard to deny that the big winner of the night was Israeli telehealth startup, TytoCare. The company provides a telehealth solution that offers on-demand medical exams from the comfort of your own home. With the Coronavirus pandemic resulting in numerous lockdown regulations this telehealth solution is perfect for our new remote-based reality, further assisting medical practitioners to still provide care for quarantined patients, minimizing the risk for both patients and doctors.    

Check out the complete list of XTC 2020 winners here.