Mobile recruitment platform Giraffe has been named winner of the South African leg of the Seedstars World global startup pitching competition, and will progress to the global finals to be held in Switzerland in 2016.
Disrupt Africa reported Seedstars World held a Cape Town-based pitching round, from which five startups were selected to compete in Johannesburg. Seven further startups were selected from around the country to join the competition in Johannesburg, for the title of “best startup in South Africa”.
The 12 startups competed head-to-head on Saturday, with Giraffe named winner by a panel of expert judges.
Giraffe will join other regional winners at the global finals to be held in Switzerland in February 2016, where the startup stands the chance to win US$500,000 in equity investment.
“We’ve always believed in our vision to help reduce unemployment in South Africa and beyond- we think what we’re doing is really cool and we hope to help a lot of people! The Seedstars award really affirms other people’s belief in our idea and business model and it encourages us to keep pushing to make it a success,” Shafin Anwarsha, founder and head of product at Giraffe told Disrupt Africa.
“We’re at a stage in our business where we’re ready to begin scaling up. We hope this win will bring us increased public exposure and help get our brand there, thereby kick-starting our marketing campaign and accelerating our growth.”
The competition was held at one of a number of new business incubators opened recently by Standard Bank; with the bank saying it hopes to do more to support entrepreneurs in South Africa and “keep up” with innovation.
“It was an exciting event where we recognized amazing startups in South Africa. Standard Bank has seen the need to recognize the startup community as well as accessing innovative companies that can improve our value chain as well as our corporate client base,” Jayshree Naidoo, head of the Standard Bank incubator.
The other startups to pitch at the Johannesburg competition were the five Cape Town startups – specialised music streaming service NicheStreem; bitcoin anti-piracy solution Custos Media Technologies; lifesaving tool mySOS; mining mapping startup Azimuth; home improvement platform RedFish.
From around the country, the participating startups were Causal Nexus, which simplifies data for employees; Modular Innobox, which designs and pilots modular social businesses inside shipping containers; Fitkey, which provides unlimited access to all types of gym and fitness classes with one unique key; African travel app and content platform Tastemakers Africa; Dronescan, which provides time, energy and safety savings in large warehouses by using drones to do inventory; and Quainted Consulting, which measures and improves corporate employees’ performances.
The next stop on the Seedstars World African tour will be held in Lagos on July 31, with applications currently open for startups hoping to compete.
