A Bay Area battery startup just walked away with $1 million in prize funding after outcompeting thousands of ventures from across the globe. How? By building technology that addresses one of the electric vehicle industry’s biggest cost barriers.
Coreshell, which has developed a breakthrough metallurgical silicon anode that promises to cut battery costs while extending EV range, claimed the top prize at the Startup World Cup 2025 Grand Finale in San Francisco as more than 3,000 attendees watched.
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It was a fierce competition that showcased the best of global innovation. Israel’s Intuition Robotics, partner of ElliQ, an AI companion for older adults, secured second place. Kenya’s BuuPass finished third with a B2B2C platform that digitizes intercity transport and enables bookings across buses, trains, and flights in East Africa.
After winning their national finals and advancing to the San Francisco stage during the October 15 to 17 program, regional champions had travelled thousands of miles for this moment. This included the Cyprus representative, Calspak, and Greece’s Grandmama, who took to the stage among 100+ other contestants across 60+ countries.
Startup World Cup
Startup World Cup is a global pitch competition and conference hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures that runs more than one hundred regional pitch events across over sixty countries. The Grand Finale is held annually in San Francisco. The 2025 edition concluded at Hilton Union Square from October 15 to October 17 after a three-day schedule that included semifinals on Wednesday, workshops and corporate innovation sessions on Thursday, and the finale and networking on Friday.
The winner is awarded a one-million-dollar investment prize and access to an unparalleled network of global investors, mentors, and industry partners. This year’s Grand Finale featured judges and speakers from firms such as Yossi Matias (Head of Research, Google), Mark Papermaster (CTO, AMD), Court Lorenzini (Founding CEO, DocuSign), Michelle Zatlyn (Co-Founder & President, Cloudflare), Ben Kus (CTO, Box), Camilla Matias (COO, Brex), highlighting the event’s role as a meeting point for founders and top tier venture capital.
The Champion: Coreshell
Coreshell develops silicon anodes built with metallurgical-grade silicon to cut battery costs while extending range in electric vehicles. Silicon carries far more lithium than graphite, but it tends to swell and break down during cycling, which has limited its use in mass-market cells. Coreshell’s approach focuses on a protective coating and manufacturing recipe that stabilizes low-processed metallurgical silicon and keeps the bill of materials in check, positioning the company as a practical path to higher energy density at lower cost.
The company’s recent milestones help explain the win. In December 2024, it unveiled commercial-scale 60 Ah cells made with 100 per cent domestically sourced metallurgical silicon. In March 2025, it secured 24 million dollars in strategic funding to scale production, with Ferroglobe as an anchor investor. That financing builds on a memorandum of understanding between the two companies to deliver battery-ready metallurgical silicon for low-cost, long-range EV batteries that comply with U.S. sourcing rules. Coreshell operates out of San Leandro in the East Bay
Commenting on the experience at the Startup World Cup Grand Finale, Jonathan Tan, CEO and Co-Founder of Coreshell, said, “Competing against thousands of startups from around the world, this was a great acknowledgement of our team’s relentless work transforming battery materials—making them more efficient, affordable, and sustainable. It’s been quite the journey, and it’s great to see it recognized on a global stage.”
Runner ups
Intuition Robotics finished second with ElliQ, a proactive companion for older adults that blends natural conversation, wellness prompts and a caregiver app to support independent living at home. The company earned its spot on the San Francisco stage after winning Israel’s regional final earlier this year, and recent updates added the ability to share health and activity alerts with caregivers.
BuuPass, representing Kenya, placed third at the Grand Finale. The company runs a B2B2C platform that digitizes intercity transport and lets travelers book buses, trains, and flights while operators manage schedules, inventory, and payments on the same system. Its selection as Kenya’s representative was confirmed after winning the national qualifier in Nairobi.
Cyprus and Greece on the Grand Finale stage
Cyprus returned to the Startup World Cup for a second year and sent Calspak to San Francisco after winning the national final in Limassol. Calspak works on cleaner and faster low-carbon cement, a direction that drew attention at the Cyprus finals and positioned the team for the Grand Finale.
Greece made its debut this year and was represented by Grandmama after winning the Athens final at SuiHub Europe on September 10. Grandmama is a home-care platform that connects families with vetted caregivers and nurses and has served thousands of households in Greece.
Dmitry Dosov, General Partner at Aivitam Ventures, and Ambassador of Startup World Cup for Cyprus and Greece, was proud to see the two regional winners stand on the global stage.
“Seeing Cyprus and Greece stand alongside global finalists is a major achievement for our region. It reflects how quickly both ecosystems are growing and how founders here are turning local momentum into a global mindset.”
He also confirmed that the calls for next year’s competition will be announced soon for both Cyprus and Greece.
