Ed-tech startup M-Shule has been named winner of the Kenyan round of the Seedstars World competition, and will now represent the country at the global final in Switzerland next year to compete for up to US$1 million in equity investment.
Global early-stage startups contest Seedstars World has been hosting local events around Africa over recent months, and has already picked winners in Mozambique, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Morocco, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.
The winner of each local round progresses to the global finals held at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in April; where they will go head-to-head against winners from around the world in a bid to win a share of US$1 million in equity funding as well as other prizes.
The Kenyan leg of the competition took place last Friday at the Nailab, with 11 startups invited to present their ideas in front of the local jury panel. The winner was M-Shule, a platform that improves primary education in Africa using artificial intelligence and SMS. The startup recently secured funding from Engineers Without Borders Canada.
M-Shule also won six months of free membership to the Nairobi Garage, with runners-up BuuPass, a digital marketplace for bus and train tickets, and third place Sinbad Technologies, a platform simplifying the process of obtaining marine cargo insurance, also earning free membership.
The other startups invited to pitch were ConnectMed, Jobsikaz, PortableVoices Creatives, Sokompare, Konnector, TozzaPlus, WazInsure and BrillantPay.
