Max Ventures portfolio companies win at European startup contests

By AI, Created 11:46 AM UTC, June 03, 2026, /AGP/ – IKI Health and Courtbrain earned top finishes at major European startup competitions, with IKI Health qualifying for the Startup World Cup Grand Final in San Francisco. Max Ventures says the results validate its AI-driven deal-sourcing model behind portfolio picks like Pynn and AngelHive.

Why it matters: - The wins give Max Ventures portfolio companies fresh visibility across health tech and sports tech. - IKI Health’s victory sends the Palma de Mallorca startup to San Francisco for a chance at a $1,000,000 prize. - Courtbrain’s podium finish signals demand for software that connects fragmented racket-sports booking systems.

What happened: - IKI Health won the Next Unicorn Startup Competition at the Ibiza Tech Forum. - Courtbrain took second place in the Startup of the Year Pitch Competition at the Padel World Summit. - Max Ventures said both companies were identified and backed through the firm’s proprietary investment process.

The details: - IKI Health is building an AI-powered clinical operating system for preventive medicine. - The platform is designed to let health professionals prescribe personalised lifestyle medicine at scale. - The company says its system can create evidence-based lifestyle plans in under three seconds. - IKI Health says the platform tracks physical, emotional and metabolic evolution from a single interface. - The company says the system can flag clinical alerts before problems escalate. - Dr. Patricia Puiggròs founded IKI Health in 2022 in Palma de Mallorca. - Puiggròs has more than two decades of clinical experience across anaesthesiology, chronic pain management, sports medicine and women’s hormonal health. - Courtbrain is an open marketplace for racket sports. - The platform aggregates court availability for padel, tennis, badminton, pickleball and more into a single search. - Courtbrain works across booking systems without requiring clubs to change existing infrastructure. - Max Ventures operates alongside Balearic Business Angels, one of the Balearic Islands’ most active investor communities. - Max Ventures uses two internal tools to source and qualify investments: Pynn, an AI-powered SaaS platform that analyses, scores, ranks and monitors startup deal flow, and AngelHive, a curated marketplace that connects vetted startups with angel investors. - Max Ventures said the portfolio results reflect the same data-driven methodology used across its investment process.

Between the lines: - The two competition results create a public proof point for Max Ventures’ claim that data can surface high-potential founders earlier than traditional networking alone. - IKI Health’s win also suggests preventive-care software is gaining traction with startup judges outside Spain. - Courtbrain’s finish points to continued investor interest in infrastructure plays tied to padel’s rapid global growth.

What’s next: - IKI Health will compete at the Startup World Cup Grand Final in San Francisco against startups from more than 60 countries. - Max Ventures will continue using Pynn and AngelHive to identify and support early-stage companies. - The firm says its portfolio is aimed at category-defining startups, with a focus on Europe and beyond.

The bottom line: - Max Ventures is turning competition wins into a showcase for its AI-backed sourcing model and for two startups now getting broader international attention.