Gauteng Accelerator Programme Gives $250,000 to Startups in South Africa

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Winners of the South Africa’s Innovation Hub’s prestigious Gauteng Accelerator Programme Innovation Competitions for 2014 have walked away with a total of R 2.8 million (cash and seed fund) and will be incubated and provided with other value added services to assist in the commercialisation of the technologies at The Innovation Hub for a year.

The prizes and support for the programmes were made possible by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), Pfizer, MSD, Emory University, Smart Living Challenges and TIH.

The winners were chosen by adjudication panels consisting of national and international industry experts, entrepreneurs and field specialists. The awards were as follows:

Representing the highest level of work in ICT-based solutions, such as mobile applications, the GAP ICT award winners are:

1^st place: Irvan Damons – Carbon Track-R60, 000 cash & R200, 000 seed

2^nd place: William Mapham – Vula Eye Care-R45, 000 cash & R150, 000 seed

3^rd place:Klaas Dikobe – Smart Plug-R30, 000 cash & R100, 000 seed

4^th place: Desmond Mongwe – MoWallet-R15, 000 cash & R50, 000 seed

Addressing socio-economic challenges working on green technologies, the GAP Green award winners are:

1^st place:Mpho Mokoena – Ultrasonic biodiesel processing-R60, 000 cash & R240, 000 seed

2^nd place:Andre Nel – Green Tower-R40, 000 cash & R160, 000 seed

3^rd place:Sizwe Mnamatha – Zuka-R20, 000 cash & R80, 000 seed

4^th place:Ming Zhang – Heat Pump Dryer-R10, 000 cash & R40, 000 seed

In recognizing entrepreneurs for their accomplishments and break throughs in the biosciences sector, winners of the GAP Bioscience awards are:

1^st place:Lesley Scot, Ela Romanowska and Wendy Stevens – SmartSpot-R500, 000 seed           funding

2^nd place:Candice Van Wyk and Francien Botha – CandidaFree Natural-R300, 000 seed funding

3^rd place:Rajesh Lalloo, Dusty Gardiner and Busi Mtsweni – OptimusBio (Pty) Ltd-R200, 000 seed funding

In identifying health technology innovations that contribute to the improvement of health care service delivery, the GAP Medical award winners are:

1^st place:Shannon Mcmurtrie – Nervitol™ -R200, 000 seed funding

2^nd place:Sateesh Isseri – S-Tip-R150,000 seed funding

3^rd place:Drew Van Der Riet – Advanced Prosthetics Engineering-R100, 000 seed funding.