Twenty-one African tech startups are pitching at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland this week for the chance of securing up to US$1 million in equity investment and other prizes.
The annual Seedstars World event kicks off today in Lausanne, following two days of bootcamps, and will see more than 65 finalists from across the world pitch for funding and a host of prizes.
All are bidding for the chance to follow Ghanaian agri-tech startup AgroCenta, which was crowned Global Winner of last year’s edition and received US$500,000 in equity investment. African startups won three other prizes at last year’s event, and this year’s winner will be announced at the awards ceremony tomorrow (Friday, April 5).
There are 21 African startups taking part, with the four North African representatives being on-demand home nursing service 7keema (the Egyptian winner), transit startup Weego (the Moroccan winner), logistics startup Optimalogistic (the Tunisian winner), and ed-tech startup Elham (the Libyan winner).
East Africa’s representatives are insurtech startup Bluewave (the Kenyan winner), agri-tech startup Agro Supply (the Ugandan winner), fintech startup BeneFactors (the Rwandan winner) and fintech startup Nala (the Tanzanian winner), while the West African participants are recruitment startup DropQue (the Nigerian winner), agri-tech startup CowTribe (the Ghanaian winner), fintech startup Diool (the Cameroonian winner), fintech startup Sudpay (the Senegalese winner), e-health startup REMA (the Ivory Coast winner), ed-tech startup Labes Key (the Democratic Republic of Congo winner), agri-tech startup Money Farm (the Gambian winner), and agri-tech startup Bandim Online (the Guinea-Bissau winner).
The startups taken part from Southern African are fintech startup Franc (the South African winner), ridesharing startup Kubinga (the Angolan winner), food ordering startup MyFoodness (the Botswana winner), agri-tech startup Rera (the Zimbabwean winner), and big data startup WenaData (the Mozambican winner).
