{"id":69500,"date":"2025-05-03T07:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T23:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=69500"},"modified":"2025-04-30T09:45:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:45:55","slug":"maya-champions-young-innovators-at-big-3-startup-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2025\/05\/03\/maya-champions-young-innovators-at-big-3-startup-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya champions young innovators at Big 3 Startup Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It started with 60 seconds. In just one minute, student teams from UP, La Salle, and Ateneo de Manila University stood before a panel of top tech leaders to pitch their boldest business ideas\u2014no fluff, just vision and execution. What followed was a dynamic showcase of youth innovation at the Big 3 Startup Showdown, a hackathon bringing together the next generation of Filipino changemakers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From an impressive pool of participants, three teams emerged as winners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>LittleBranch:<\/strong>\u00a0The go-to portal for discovering over 1,000 exciting kids\u2019 activities across the Philippines, helping parents find the best experiences for every child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Quasar:<\/strong>\u00a0The first all-in-one, AI-powered platform for automating loan approval services in the Philippines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Venyu:<\/strong>\u00a0the largest one-stop sport venue booking platform with over 1,000 courts in Metro Manila. Find, book and play in minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final event was held at the Maya Headquarters, Launchpad Building, where student entrepreneurs delivered fast-paced pitches and high-impact solutions\u2014proving that the country\u2019s most exciting startups might just be brewing in the halls of its top universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Industry leaders joined the judging panel, including Maya Chief Product Officer Mitch Padua, mWell CIO Albert Padin, Google Philippines Customer Engineer Loys Talip, and Gobi Core Founding Partner Carlo Delantar, offering critical feedback and real-world insights. The winning teams also earned a Php30,000 cash prize each to support their upcoming participation in Geeks on a Beach 2025, a global beachside tech conference where game-changing ideas are pitched to global investors and thought leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe witnessed incredible ingenuity from these top universities\u2014ideas grounded in real-world problems and driven by purpose,\u201d said Mitch Padua, Maya Group Chief Product Officer. \u201cThat\u2019s the magic of young innovators: they\u2019re not just coding apps \u2014they\u2019re crafting solutions. At Maya, we\u2019re proud to champion that mindset. It\u2019s exactly how we began\u2014by daring to reimagine the way things are done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Education Remains Key<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The showdown was organized with the support of respected faculty from the participating schools, led by Prof. Bowei Gai (La Salle), with the support of Prof. Jose Emmanuel Reverente&nbsp;(UP), and Prof. Joseph Benjamin Ilagan&nbsp;(ADMU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis event isn\u2019t just about winning pitches\u2014it\u2019s about opening doors,\u201d shared Gai. \u201cAteneo, La Salle, and UP worked together on this event with the shared goal of giving students&nbsp;the chance to pitch to real VCs and product leaders and learn how their ideas can translate into real-world solutions. That experience alone is game-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the event built countless bridges of opportunity for the participants, it also created a new network among the country\u2019s top universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s rare\u2014and really special\u2014to see students from UP, La Salle, and Ateneo come together like this. Events like this allow them to go beyond the classroom and see what it really takes to compete at a high level. They get to pitch not just to mentors, but to real investors who challenge them with tough, real-world questions,\u201d added Gai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat kind of experience is invaluable\u2014it pushes them to level up, think bigger, and build ventures that not only solve real problems but are also sustainable and investor-ready,\u201d Reverente concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Supporting the Next Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maya proudly served as the main sponsor of the Big 3 Startup Showdown, providing the total cash prize pool awarded to the top three teams. More than just funding, Maya\u2019s support was rooted in its mission to uplift young innovators, encourage bold thinking, and help translate fresh ideas into real-world impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company also took the opportunity to showcase its payments and digital banking products and open internship opportunities, planting long-term seeds for collaboration between today\u2019s industry leaders and tomorrow\u2019s startup founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Maya continues to power financial transformation nationwide, the company also continues to invest in the country\u2019s most promising resource: its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because at the heart of every great startup is the same thing that drives Maya\u2014the belief that with the right tools and support, bold ideas can spark lasting impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe witnessed incredible ingenuity from these top universities\u2014ideas grounded in real-world problems and driven by purpose,\u201d said Mitch Padua, Maya Group Chief Product Officer. \u201cThat\u2019s the magic of young innovators: they\u2019re not just coding apps \u2014they\u2019re crafting solutions. At Maya, we\u2019re proud to champion that mindset. It\u2019s exactly how we began\u2014by daring to reimagine the way things are done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":69501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[7376,96,2727,1656],"class_list":["post-69500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-maya","tag-technology","tag-technology-adaption","tag-technology-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69502,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69500\/revisions\/69502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}