What app is winning SXSW?

SXSW kicked off on Friday, bringing folks in tech, film, media and music together for the annual festival in Austin, Texas.

Since the event draws an early-adopting crowd on the hunt for the next breakout hit, the fest has historically served as a launch pad for new apps to take off. Previous SXSW breakouts include: Twitter (2008), Foursquare (2009), Highlight (2012), Secret (2014), and Meerkat (2015).

This year, however, SXSW is shifting away from a place for startups to launch apps. Big tech companies focused more on branded *experiences* — from Snap's “Snap House” to Patreon's “House of Creativity.”

And politics came to the festival in a big way this year. Up-and-comers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke were there, and presidential contenders like Amy Klobuchar, Howard Schultz, Elizabeth Warren and John Hickenlooper all spoke at the fest.

Electric scooters also made a splash at SXSW, as they became the primary way to get around.

While the jury's still out on a hot new breakout app from SXSW this year, the winners of the festival's annual pitch competition were announced yesterday. Here are a few of the winning apps you should check out:

Tankee is the first gaming network for kids 🎮

Nebula Genomics wants to put all of you on the blockchain 😳

Supportiv is an anonymous support network 💬

Twenty Tables helps people find meals at local restaurants for $6 🍔

Healium uses VR to lower stress 😌

We're also keeping an eye on Traverse, a new immersive audio platform that will let you map your surroundings with AR. It's set to launch at SXSW today.

Last week's Stories to catch up on:

• Why Everyone Should Read Support Emails
• 7 Steps to Building A $5,000 Per Month Side Project
• How to Bootstrap a Community Business and Grow to 50K Members
• Is Design Valuable as a Maker?