Industrial AI startup Syncrowin has been named Winner of the DTECH Initiate Pitch Competition at DISTRIBUTECH (DTECH) 2026, held in San Diego, California. DTECH is North America’s largest energy transmission and distribution event, attended by more than 20,000 industry leaders from over 90 countries.
Syncrowin, the Australian industrial AI startup, was selected as a winner alongside Massachusetts-based Nobel Carbon and Germany-based Ecophi. All three winners were chosen from more than 36 global startups, themselves selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants worldwide. The competition was judged by senior leaders from major U.S. utilities.
Syncrowin is an autonomous industrial AI autopilot for heavy industries across energy, manufacturing and mining, aimed at reducing operational losses in targeted areas such as production losses, energy efficiency and maintenance. Syncrowin is currently working with some of the world’s largest infrastructure and utility leaders.
Founded by engineers Aisshwarya Kansakaar (Forbes 30 Under 30; 2025 Young Australian of the Year) and Jaideep Upadhyay, Syncrowin is backed by CSIRO, the Melbourne Accelerator Program and Microsoft Founders Hub. The win marks the first time an Australian startup has taken this title at DTECH, signalling the growing global strength of Australia’s industrial AI capabilities.
As the energy transition accelerates, the competitive advantage will increasingly lie not only in building assets, but in optimising them intelligently, as Syncrowin is already delivering.
