Globe Magazine’s Tech Power Players take the stage to explore the future of the city’s tech ecosystem. From emerging trends and breakthrough innovations, to the challenges shaping growth, this conversation will spotlight the visionaries driving Boston’s next wave of tech transformation.

Greater Boston is home to both world-class universities and a growing tech sector. This panel will explore how companies can attract, retain, and grow top talent within the region — connecting education to opportunity and fueling the future of Boston’s innovation economy.

Artificial intelligence is advancing at a rapid pace, transforming all industries, including healthcare and financial services to manufacturing. This panel will discuss the latest innovations in AI and how they are reshaping the way businesses operate and deliver value.

The future of crypto is seen as complex and uncertain, with both opportunities and challenges ahead.

What is the Startup World Cup? 

The Startup World Cup is a series of global startup conferences and pitch competitions powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, featuring 100+ regional events across 60+ countries. These events culminate in our 2025 Grand Finale hosted in Silicon Valley (USA), where winning startups from each regional event will compete for a $1M prize on October 17th, 2025. The Tech Innovation Summit will host the East Coast Regional Pitch Competition as part of this global series.

What is Pegasus Ventures?

Pegasus Tech Ventures is a $2B global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley (USA) that invests in emerging technology companies worldwide and supports their expansion in North America, Asia, and Europe.

Are there any eligibility requirements or restrictions?

The competition is open to all industries (except non-profits).
Startups must have a legal business entity (i.e., be incorporated).
There are no age restrictions 

How are the top 10 finalists selected?

Finalists are chosen based on an assessment of their application. Submissions are evaluated similarly to how a venture capital firm would assess investment opportunities.

What will the pitch contest look like on June 10?

The live pitch contest will take place at the 2025 Tech Innovation Summit at 3:00 PM on the main stage. Each of the 10 finalists will have 3–4 minutes to present their pitch to a panel of judges and the full in-person Summit audience of around 200 in-person attendees and 700+ virtual attendees. The winner will be announced at the event once all pitches have been viewed and evaluated by the judges.

A complimentary lunch will be served courtesy of WGU.

Lunch will be held from 12:00pm - 1:15pm.

Program will begin on the main stage promptly at 1:15pm.

Beer, wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served and attendees are encouraged to network with fellow attendees, speakers and sponsors. On the mezzanine level, there will be activations for attendees to engage with.

As AI becomes more embedded in real-world products and services, the center of gravity needs to shift from the cloud to the edge. From smartphones and laptops to vehicles and drones, edge devices are increasingly where AI needs to run—driven by demands for privacy, speed, reliability, and cost-efficiency.

But deploying AI on the edge isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s a paradigm shift. Shipping a model is only the beginning. Maintaining, updating, and optimizing AI systems across distributed hardware environments requires new thinking, new architectures, and new strategies.

This panel brings together leaders on the frontlines of edge AI to explore the why, how, and what’s next. They’ll discuss the biggest pain points enterprises face today, the tradeoffs between task-specific and general-purpose small language models, and what it will take to move from experimentation to scalable, ROI-positive deployment.