Seedstars World, a global early-stage startups competition has announced the 11 startups that will pitch at its pre-selection event in Soweto, South Africa on Tuesday, June 14th, with top three startups to head to the national final in Johannesburg.
The Soweto tour comes days after a successful pre-selection event in Cape Town and Durban. The event will take place at eKasi Labs (attendees can register here for free) with the startups to pitch to a panel of judges.
The top three startups will be invited to Johannesburg, where they will compete with the best startups of Cape Town and Durban, of which one will be crowned the most promising seed-stage startup of Seedstars World South Africa 2016.
The South African competition is carried out with the support of Standard Bank, who will further support the startups on their path to success.
The 11 startups that are selected to participate at the Seedstars World pitching event are:
- DroneSnap: DroneSnap is an online platform that provides on-demand, high quality, professional drone operators for all forms of aerial imaging.
- Riovic This startups provides digital and P2P insurance backed by crowdfunded reinsurance.
- BOTTLES Is an alcohol delivery app that delivers alcohol to your door in under 60 minutes.
- Zula Afrika A non-traditional, technology enabled public transport service, offering commuters the convenience and flexibility that they are used to.
- Sortd A communication-centric organizer that transforms email and instant messaging into a set of organized to-do lists.
- Masokko An Africa-centric B2B e-marketplace driven to help small and medium enterprises in agriculture, food and beverages to sell their goods to export markets.
- Black Industrialists (Pty) Ltd An application that channels ED funds to smallholder farmers through monitoring, evaluation and reporting before access to markets.
- Pinard Aéronautique This startups created a Pinard’s P3210 helicopter, an affordable, FAA-compliant solution that folds away when not in use.
- GEM Payment Services GEM offers a mobile payment platform to reward social action.
- UmoyAir Communications: UmoyAir provides free calls from mobile phones to any number without airtime or data.
- GoldPay: GoldPay is a financially inclusive asset-backed investment, savings and money sharing platform created on a blockchain technology.
“Durban and Soweto are our newest additions in our Seedstars tour in South Africa. I’m looking forward to witnessing the incredible talent that we will find in these new locations and showcasing it at our South Africa final and hopefully on the global stage.” says Marcello Schermer, Regional Manager for Seedstars World Africa.
Entrepreneur Traction will act as the local ambassador across the continent and will represent the initiative throughout the year. Other partners include local and international organizations, such as Omidyar Network, Payfast, Glocell and eKasi Labs. In addition, Seedstars World has partnered with TRECC to bring the “Transforming Education Prize”, which will award the best startup in the education space from around the world with a prize of over USD 50,000.
The Seedstars World event in Soweto will take place on Tuesday, June 14th from 4-9PM, tickets are free and attendees can register here.
