South Africa GoMetro, Cameroon and Senegal’s Marod.tv, Nigeria’ GetNearest and Prowork and Kenya’s Waabeh, an audio market place helping with discovery and distribution of audio content in Africa are among the thirteen international startups selected as finalists by the VentureOut Challenge.
The challenge is an initiative of infoDev and CRDF Global launched to help mobile app entrepreneurs to expand internationally.The finalists from Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe and Central Asia will pitch their applications before a live audience and a panel of mobile experts in Chisinau, Moldova on November 1, 2013.
The finalists represent mobile applications in mobile health focusing on patient-centric health applications, location-based services and music, gaming and television.
South Africa’s GoMetro is a transit app for emerging marketsthat combines trains, buses, rapid transit andtaxis into one app using multiple data sources. Senegal and Cameroon’s Marodi.tv is a replay TV platform for mobile and web playing TV programs from channels in both countries. Nigeria’s Nearest Locator helps users to easily find thenearest ATMs, banks, eateries, hospitals,pharmacies and more while Prowork empowers businesses by bringingproject management and collaboration togetheron one platform.
Other apps selected include Jamaican Grikly, a business networking application thatallows users to share contact details easily.
Armenia’s Idram Mobile Wallet, an app that empowers users to make payments and transfer money using only theirphone.
Trinidad &Tobago’s M.A.D.E., a disaster- and emergency-focusednative mobile app providing users with information about what to do before, during, and after natura ldisasters and national emergencies. Moldova’s Manifesto which instantly records video or audio withone tap and shares it seamlessly. Jamiaica’s SweetSOA which offers web services to businesses and Croatia’s Teddy the Guardian, a teddy that uses state-of-the-art medical sensors to capture, report on and share a child’s vital signs like heart rate, body temperature and oxygen saturation.
Others include Tuning Fork, a karaoke with real-time pitch verification. Ukraine’s X-Rift, a location-based augmented reality gamefor mobile devices.
The finalists will receive mentoring and resources to help them grow and take their mobile startups global. They will also recieve hands-on training on identifying and develop customer base apart from learning necessary skills, networking and finding inspiration to go global.