The Anonymous Unicorn opened the show with one request: "Bring your best pitch, your biggest dreams, and preferably some actual numbers." Then nine Web3 founders had three minutes each to deliver.
That was Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition, which we ran online on 29 October 2026 with Yellow, and with R2Copilot as prize partner. Each founder pitched live, then took questions from a human jury: Den from R2Copilot and Kaizen Finance, Ali from Crypto Executive and EvalLens, and Pedro from Yellow. The Unicorn co-hosted. The live show ran just over two hours. The recap below takes 2:28.
The short version
Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition was a free online pitch competition for Web3 founders, run by EvalLens and Yellow with R2Copilot on 29 October 2026. Nine finalists pitched live for three minutes each, then answered questions from a human jury, with the Anonymous Unicorn as co-host. Exwell won, Ditto Network came second, TECTA third.
Private deck review → revise the deck → 3-min live pitch
→ Q&A with the human jury → jury scores → top 3 read out live
The Unicorn co-hosted. People made the call.
What was Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition?
Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition was the second Pitch Gauntlet, a free pitch programme for Web3 founders. It ran online on 29 October 2026, as a separate event during Merge Madrid. EvalLens and Yellow ran it together. R2Copilot put up a prize for the top five.
Pedro from Yellow opened the stream from the conference: "Hello from Madrid, Merge Madrid. A lot of people there."
The first edition ran in Barcelona in September (here's that recap). Madrid changed two things, both listed on the event page: a human judging panel, and an improvement round between the review and the stage.
The format, in order:
- A private deck review. Under the event rules, every valid application got a private report on its deck within 24 hours: what holds up, what needs work, what to prepare for.
- A pit stop. Selected teams revised their decks using that feedback.
- The live show. Three minutes to pitch, up to five minutes of questions, no interruptions during the pitch.
What did the Unicorn ask for?
Actual numbers.
The Anonymous Unicorn is the talking 3D unicorn that co-hosts Pitch Gauntlet for EvalLens. It opened the show, handed each founder the floor ("Three minutes for your pitch. The floor is yours.") and joined the Q&A. The decisions stayed with the people on the jury.
The joke has a point. Big dreams are free on a livestream. A number with a unit on it is not, because somebody in the audience can check it. On stage, a number said out loud is a promise.
Who pitched, and what did they say?
Nine projects pitched live, from eight teams: Arthur pitched two of them, SimpleNFT and DisputeMe. Here's one line from each, in the order the recap shows them. The numbers are the founders' own, as said on air.
| Project | Founder | On air |
|---|---|---|
| EdChess | Alena | "This is a live product. We have now over six hundred sixty seven thousand total users." |
| SimpleNFT | Arthur | "The pilot collected around 335 collections with 4,456 mints and 10,000 TON paid to creators." |
| Ditto Network | Vlad | "Ditto right now is an AI-powered trading desk for on-chain markets." |
| Exwell | Nik | "We're already profitable. We're a revenue company, creating around twenty K of revenue per month right now." |
| ViaHonest | Roman | "Picture a creator who drops a limited hoodie for sixty dollars. A few months later a fan resells it for one hundred eighty dollars." |
| TECTA | Rik | "We're talking to two private banks from Switzerland and three deal platforms, major deal platforms from Europe." |
| DisputeMe | Arthur | "Chat bets run on trust right now and nobody pays up." |
| Nabu | Nicky | "They still hallucinate, which you don't want anywhere near your money." |
| Qurve | Nanda & Subham | "Everyone else is building a token factory and we are building the full economic life cycle for agents." (Subham) |
Five of those nine lines carry a number. The Unicorn asked for exactly that in its first sentence of the day.
Who was on the jury?
Three people judged the live round:
- Den, R2Copilot and Kaizen Finance
- Ali, CEO of Crypto Executive and head of BD at EvalLens
- Pedro, Yellow
Yaroslav from EvalLens hosted the show, and the Anonymous Unicorn co-hosted. The jury scored every pitch, and the jury made the call.
Who won Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition?
Exwell won Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition. Ditto Network finished second and TECTA third. Yaroslav from EvalLens read out the top three live: "The third place goes to TECTA, the second place goes to Ditto Network, and the first place goes to Exwell. So guys, congratulations."
| # | Project | Founder | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exwell | Nik | Market making from Yellow · R2Copilot prize |
| 2 | Ditto Network | Vlad | Market making from Yellow · R2Copilot prize |
| 3 | TECTA | Rik | Market making from Yellow · R2Copilot prize |
| 4 | SimpleNFT | Arthur | R2Copilot prize |
| 5 | EdChess | Alena | R2Copilot prize |
| 5 | DisputeMe | Arthur | R2Copilot prize |
| 7 | Nabu | Nicky | — |
| 8 | ViaHonest | Roman | — |
| 9 | Qurve | Nanda & Subham | — |
EdChess and DisputeMe share fifth place. The places come from the leaderboard shown at the end of the live show.
How the places were set: after each pitch and Q&A, the human jury (Den from R2Copilot and Kaizen Finance, Ali from Crypto Executive and EvalLens, and Pedro from Yellow) scored the team on five equally weighted criteria, listed on the event page. Problem and customer. Solution and product evidence. Market and go-to-market. Traction, team and feasibility. Live clarity and Q&A. The private deck review helped teams prepare and did not count toward the live result.
The Unicorn, as co-host, added its congratulations: "Huge congratulations to Exwell. Well deserved, guys." The result itself came from the jury and was read out by a person. The final call is human.
What did the top five win?
The top three, Exwell, Ditto Network and TECTA, get market making from Yellow. The top five, which adds SimpleNFT plus EdChess and DisputeMe on the shared fifth place, get the R2Copilot prize: AI-token support for each project, subject to the prize requirements. Full prize terms are on the event page.
Key moments in the recap
- 00:00 Live from Merge Madrid
- 00:17 The Unicorn opens the show
- 00:27 The finalists
- 00:39 The pitches
- 01:49 Leaderboard and the verdict
- 02:08 Champion
What's next
Thank you to Yellow, R2Copilot and every founder who pitched. If you were on stage, the recap is yours to share: tag us and we'll repost.
We announce the next Gauntlets, open calls and partner perks in our channels first: Telegram, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
If you run a pitch competition and want every applicant to get a read on their deck before the stage, while your judges keep the final call, book a demo. EvalLens prepares the evidence. People decide.
Yaroslav closed the show with the line we'd use to close this post: "Take your time and grow your projects and be the next unicorn."
Common questions
What is Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition? Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition is a free online pitch competition for Web3 founders, run by EvalLens and Yellow with R2Copilot as prize partner on 29 October 2026, during Merge Madrid. Every valid applicant got a private deck review. Nine finalists then pitched live for three minutes and answered questions from a human jury, with the Anonymous Unicorn as co-host.
Who won Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition? Exwell, represented by Nik, won. Ditto Network (Vlad) finished second and TECTA (Rik) third. SimpleNFT came fourth, and EdChess and DisputeMe shared fifth. Nabu, ViaHonest and Qurve completed the field of nine. Yaroslav from EvalLens announced the top three live, and the full leaderboard is on the event page.
What did the winners of Pitch Gauntlet: Madrid Edition receive? The top three teams, Exwell, Ditto Network and TECTA, get market making from Yellow. The top five, which adds SimpleNFT plus EdChess and DisputeMe on a shared fifth place, get the R2Copilot prize: AI-token support for each project, subject to the prize requirements published on the event page.
How were the Madrid finalists scored? After each three-minute pitch and Q&A, the human jury (Den from R2Copilot and Kaizen Finance, Ali from Crypto Executive and EvalLens, and Pedro from Yellow) scored the team on five equally weighted criteria: problem and customer, solution and product evidence, market and go-to-market, traction, team and feasibility, and live clarity. The private deck review was preparation only and did not count. A person read out the result: the final call is human.
Who is the Anonymous Unicorn? The Anonymous Unicorn is the talking 3D unicorn that co-hosts Pitch Gauntlet for EvalLens. In Madrid it opened the show, gave each founder the floor and joined the Q&A. Its opening line asked founders for "preferably some actual numbers." It co-hosts the show; the human jury makes the final call.