Thirty startups from across the continent have been selected to take part in DEMO Africa, the launchpad event for emerging technologies and trends which takes place in Johannesburg, on November 23-24.
Disrupt Africa reported last week 35 startups had been shortlisted for the event from a record 956 digital startups from 28 African countries that applied to launch at the event.
Those startups have now been narrowed down to the 26 startups that will take part, with four additional startups having been picked at the regional innovation tours that ran between March and July.
Out of the 30, South Africa is represented by eight startups, Nigeria by seven, Kenya six, and Ghana and Zimbabwe by two each. Cameroon, Uganda, Morocco, Tanzania and Senegal are
The South African startups selected for the event are SeeBox producer K Measure, Picadoo, Spazapp, Tapsnapp, Airbuy, FinChatBot, Intelligent Routing, and Rooster.
Nigeria is represented by Mobile Forms, Atele Advanced Solutions, Peachwater Consulting, Suvenia, Medsaf, Pepperest, and GoSpot.
The Kenyan startups on the list are Chimera IoT, Shield Enterprise, ZOA Tech, Daktari Africa, Taz Technologies and Optimetriks, with Ghana represented by Bisa and KudiGo, and Zimbabwe represented by Dadala and DrCADx.
A-Trader (Tanzania), Temateq (Cameroon), JokkoText (Senegal), SOS Sante (Morocco) and Sellio (Uganda) complete the shortlist.
“The entries this year certainly kept up with the DEMO Africa spirit to produce innovative and creative ideas that are bound to transform the technology landscape and we are excited by the growth of innovation and technological advancement in Africa as portrayed by our finalists,” said Harry Hare, DEMO Africa executive producer.
The 30 companies have products in 10 verticals, including logistics, retail, e-commerce, education, fintech, media, renewable energy and health.
“The adjudication process involved a review of the documentation submitted by the startups, a review of their online properties, and testing some of the applications that are online, But the judges also look at the innovation, viability and the product-market fit,” said event director Mbugua Njihia.
