South Africa’s Over has won the award out of 19 competitors for World’s Best Start-Up at U-Start conference held in Milan.Over developed iOS app that allows users to add artistic text and artwork to user-generated photos.
Alongside Over’s title, four regional winners from four key global start-up markets; Europe, Russia, South America and a second finalist from Africa were announced as:
- Italist – an online Italian high-end fashion retailer, chosen as Europe’s winner;
- Linguademia – specialists in encouraging a new approach to foreign language learning through gaming, selected as the best from Russia;
- LoveMondays – an online platform for anonymous employee reviews of businesses, revealed as the top start-up in South America; and
- wiGroup – pioneers in point-of-sale, integrated mobile transactions, chosen as the second African winner.
Aaron Marshall, CEO of Over said: “To receive this accolade is one of the proudest moments of our journey to date. As any start-up will know, the path that leads to the point of industry and global recognition is never an easy one, so to receive acclaim of this nature is truly overwhelming. Not only does the award represent a huge milestone for our company, it is also testament to the sheer scale of talent and innovation – especially in the tech and digital sectors – that sits within Africa. Something we are honoured to represent for the 2014 round of the U- Start finals.”
Stefano Guidotti, CEO, U-Start, says: “We are delighted to award Over with the title of Best Start-Up of the World. Having traveled 12000 thousand miles, from São Paulo, to Cape Town, to Moscow, to Lugano and finally to Milan for the finale, we have witnessed some of the most innovative and exciting businesses to exist globally.
“The decision was not, however, an easy one. Over’s resounding success is representative of the outstanding tech prowess that propels our offer, in addition to Africa’s world-class status as a championing nation for tech’ innovation.
“All of our focal economies across the emerging markets have continued to steadily evolve as prime generators of future billion dollar tech-companies – confidently satisfying the needs of an ever-growing number of tech-savvy customers, both from a B2C and B2B perspective.