Khusela, a low-cost fire detection device and integrated alert service, features as the best startup at the just concluded Seedstars World competition in Cape Town.They win a trip to Switzerland to pitch against other regional winners and stand a chance of winning US$500,000 in funding.
Khusale’s device is an innovative heat detector, as opposed to a smoke detector. In the event of a fire, the device detects the high temperature and begins ringing to alert those inside the dwelling. Other devices with 100-metre radius are also triggered creating a community wide call to action. It is however not-suited for the informal settlement environment given the prevalent cooking, heating and lighting methods in place.
Speaking at the event, Khusela’s CEO David Gluckman stated: “Seedstars World is just what South African startups need, as they bring international attention and investment opportunities to Cape Town. We cannot wait to go to Geneva!”
Peach Payment, a payment platform focused on the merchant side and Hoja, a mobile application deployment platform came in second and third position respectively.
For its return to South Africa, Seedstars World partnered with Cape Town Garage and the Dubai based accelerator Turn8, which offered potential program slots to RLabs startups Hoja and Cinemo. The event was further supported by the Silicon Cape and Johannesburg based Enterpriseroom, whose Founder Leora Rajak spoke about female empowerment through entrepreneurship.
In a statement Sam Meyer, General Manager of the Cape Town Garage said of the event: “The Seedstars Cape Town event brought investors, VCs, and off course, high quality startups together in a very unique setting. The Cape Town Garage looks forward to partnering with Seedstars Cape Town again next year!”
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Turn8’s Kamal Hassan, Leora Rajak from Entrepriseroom, French Entrepreneur Alexandre Stern, and Seedstars World Scout Nellie Horn rounded out the jury.
The next stop of the tour is the Seedstars Bangalore on 19 July 2014. It continues on to Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Manila, Jakarta, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Mexico City, Bogotá, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo.
