Hitachi Names Inaugural Tech Startup Challenge Winners

Three startup companies will explore collaboration opportunities with Hitachi after winning the company’s inaugural Hitachi Construction Machinery Challenge.

The winners – Sodex Innovations, Teleo, and Veristart Technologies – will join Hitachi at Bauma 2025 to showcase their technology alongside Hitachi’s lineup of construction and mining equipment.

The program received proposals from 127 startups that fit within three themes:

• Construction Planning
• Revolutionize Equipment: Information, Interface & Autonomy
• Transform Fleet Management

Guest judges included Cutler Knupp, Haskell vice president of strategy & technology investment; Kaustubh Pandya, Brick & Mortar Ventures partner; and Satish Padmanabhan, DIMAAG-AI CEO.

“Hitachi Construction Machinery is traditionally known as a company that provides mechanical items, but we are pivoting to also being a true technological solutions provider. For us, that means collaborating with innovative startups,” says Masahiro Yamada, Hitachi Construction Machinery vice president of the new business creation unit. “This event is very important to us because it will show the world that Hitachi Construction Machinery is more than just excavators, wheel loaders, and mining trucks. We are also a technology company that listens to their customers’ needs and provides wholistic solutions.”

Sodex Innovations won under the “Construction Planning” theme.

Their product turns operators into surveyors by equipping machines with laser scanners and cameras. By giving the machines “digital eyes,” the operators can capture terrain in real time and keep track of progress without stopping operations for a survey.

Teleo won under the “Revolutionize Equipment: Information, Interface & Autonomy” theme.

Their supervised autonomous machine is a brand-agnostic solution that allows operators to operate multiple machines simultaneously from a remote environment out of the elements and away from any dangerous conditions.  

Veristart Technologies won under the “Transform Fleet Management” theme.

Their solution is targeted at preventing machinery theft by providing fleet managers with better control of their machines via a cloud application, mobile application and hardware. Machine operators receive an electronic key on their smartphone that allows them to start the machine.  

Hitachi Construction Machinery says it will continue to engage in open innovation with start-ups and aims to incorporate these innovations into its solutions for customers. The company has been working on open technology and product development through investments and collaboration in venture capital funds and start-ups.