Since Cogwheel first participated in the pitch at E20X in 2022, the Cogwheel team has made it a tradition to follow the promising startups showcased each year. E20X (Entrepreneur 20X), hosted during HITEC, is known for spotlighting the most innovative solutions in hospitality tech, and 2025’s competition didn’t disappoint.
Here’s a look at the full lineup of startups that competed in June 2025 in Indianapolis:
ALBIE: Booking Engine
ALBIE enables guests to book multiple hotels, activities, and ancillaries — even for different dates — all in a single reservation. It simplifies complex trip planning and helps boost visibility for hotels and activity providers. With flexibility in booking order and seamless guest detail management, ALBIE offers a collaborative approach to travel planning.
BookBoost: CRM & Guest Messaging
BookBoost streamlines guest communications with a unified inbox and 24/7 support via chatbot. Its platform combines CRM, CDP, guest messaging, and workflow automation to help hotels personalize guest experiences while managing data efficiently. Automations, segmentation, and cross-platform insights make it a robust tool for both marketing and operations teams.
Ediphi: AI + VR Training
Ediphi is an AI-powered training platform that uses immersive, conversational experiences — including virtual reality — to simulate real-world scenarios. From kitchen safety to front desk training, it allows hospitality teams to learn by doing, track progress, and earn certifications. It’s a next-gen approach to onboarding and employee development.
Eeva: In-Room Amenities
Eeva is a compact, plumbing-free 2-in-1 washer and dryer designed for guest rooms. It runs on a standard outlet and includes a removable water canister. With a 90-minute wash/dry cycle, hotels can offer convenient laundry options as a room upgrade or self-pay amenity, operating on a 50/50 revenue share leasing model.
Levee: Housekeeping AI
Levee connects to property systems to support housekeeping teams with real-time room inspections, training, and brand standards compliance. Using vision AI, housekeepers scan rooms post-cleaning to receive instant feedback — catching things like missing towels before guests do. It reduces the need for room inspectors and helps maintain consistency and quality.
SEE Carbon Zero: Sustainability Automation
SEE Carbon Zero offers an automated platform for measuring and reporting carbon emissions. Designed to simplify ESG compliance and energy reporting (now mandated in five U.S. states), the tool provides actionable insights for reducing environmental impact while cutting manual reporting by up to 80%.
Siv: Sales Lead Response
Siv tackles slow group lead response times by using AI to instantly reply to inbound RFPs via text, email, or phone. It integrates directly with existing hospitality tools, allowing hotel teams to respond in minutes instead of days. The goal: speed up conversions without replacing salespeople — freeing them to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
Vella AI: Proposal Automation
Vella AI collects RFPs from emails, forms, and event platforms, and automatically drafts branded proposals using hotel assets and messaging. It tracks the full proposal journey (opens, replies, etc.) and integrates with PMS and CRM systems. With hours of work reduced to minutes, it helps sales teams stay organized and respond before leads go cold.
Winner
Congratulations to all the participants!
We know first hand an exacting 4 minutes followed by judge Q&A is extremely stressful.
While the Cogwheel team got hyped about Siv and Eeva, Levee came out on top, earning both the Judge’s Choice Award and the People’s Choice Award — a rare sweep that hasn’t happened before at this event.
About Cogwheel Marketing
Cogwheel Marketing™️ is a full service digital marketing agency specializing in branded hotels, first leveraging brand systems then coupling that with supplemental strategies to maximize total online presence. Their reporting and business intelligence tool, Cogwheel Analytics, aggregates data from multiple sources to allow companies to identify trends and opportunities in their online presence. Our defined processes ensure the best positioning for your hotel against the competitive set and against other hotels of the same brand. Let us work with your sales and revenue management teams to identify and close the gaps and target your ideal guests.
