Gaussian Scout, Pixentinel Take Top Prizes at San Sebastián’s Zinemaldia Startup Challenge

Sep 24, 2026 11:01pm PT Gaussian Scout, Pixentinel Take Top Prizes at San Sebastián’s Zinemaldia Startup Challenge

Finland’s Gaussian Scout takes Best European Project and an entrepreneurship prize, while Spain’s Pixentinel lands the €30,000 ($34,800) Spanish award

By Callum McLennan

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Callum McLennan

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Zinemaldia Startup Challenge winners Antti Ahokoivu (l) and Luis Zabala (r) Courtesy of the San Sebastian Film Festival

SAN SEBASTIÁN, Spain — Finland’s Gaussian Scout (formerly listed Virtual Location Scouting) and Spain’s Pixentinel claimed the top prizes at the 2026 Zinemaldia Startup Challenge, the San Sebastián Festival’s flagship technology competition.

Gaussian Scout, a browser-based virtual location scouting platform being developed by Finnish cinematographer Antti Ahokoivu, won Best European Project with its €10,000 and also picked up the €3,000 Special Mention for Entrepreneurship. Spanish streaming-operations startup Pixentinel took the €30,000 Best Spanish Project award. Rather than simply flagging when a live stream has broken, Pixentinel aims to determine where a failure originated supplu evidence to the diagnosis and, where possible, automatically trigger a response. The proposition is aimed at broadcasters and streaming operators feel the hit of short interruptions during live programming can become lost viewers and revenue.

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