Filipino startup Acudeen Technologies has been named Seedstars World Global Winner 2016 taking home an equity investment of USD 500’000, as well as other exciting prizes. Founded by Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III, Acudeen Technologies was crowned the “Seedstars World Global Winner 2016” for their innovative solution that turns SMEs invoices into cash through discounting of their receivables, providing them with necessary working capital they are not getting from the banks. Magellan talked to us about winning the prize and what it means to his company:
In addition to the USD 500K investment prize for the Seedstars World Global Winner, 5 other startups were awarded special prizes:
- Asafeer Education Technologies from UAE was awarded the TRECC Transforming Education Prize, a grant of USD 50’000, presented by TRECC.
- UnDosTres from Mexico was awarded the PayU Fintech Prize, with full access to the Seedstars Growth program and five tickets to a Silicon Valley fintech tour.
- qAIRa Nano + from Peru was awarded the prize for Best Woman Entrepreneur, presented by Hublot.
- PiQuant from South Korea was awarded the prize for Most Innovative Startup, presented by Hublot.
- Mind Rockets from Jordan was awarded the Public Vote, presented by The Office for Economic Affairs (SPECo), which is the Office for Economic Affairs of the State of Vaud in Switzerland.
The 12 finalists startups selected were:
- Talk Bank from Russia
- Segmentify from Turkey
- Mind Rockets from Jordan
- Raye7 from Egypt
- Apli from Mexico
- Ultra Casas from Bolivia
- Edupass from Dominican Republic
- LayUp / Creative eLearning (Pvt) from Sri Lanka
- Acudeen Technologies from Philippines
- Uhoo from Hong Kong
- Jamii / EdgePoint Digital from Tanzania
- Kasha from Rwanda
VIAGlobal, the US Launchpad for International Startups, presented the Virtual Presence Prize for US Expansion to Democrance and REDOXIGEN at the Seedstars World Investor Forum, both startups will receive 12-months of VIAGlobal’s Virtual Presence services, which provide an economical solution for companies that want to expedite a commercial presence in the U.S. without moving personnel immediately.
Seedstars also officially launched Seedstars Community, a network of startup ecosystem enablers and doers across emerging markets. The community will connect Seedstars World peers with each other and potential customers and service providers. All the community members will benefit from access to Seedspaces globally and special offers and deals from Seedstars partners in 60+ countries.
Seedstars together with TRECC aim to build companies that will disrupt Education by driving access and affordability of Education, first in Cote d’Ivoire and then across Africa and together with Enel Green Power, Seedstars will launch the Africa Energy Track in more than 20 cities in Africa to find the best entrepreneurs across Africa who are looking at innovative solutions to electrify Africa. The selected entrepreneurs will invited to joining Seedstars Growth (Seedstars’ acceleration program), and Enel Green Power will support them through commercial agreements and partnerships.
Together with Merck Group, Seedstars will source the most innovative seed-stage companies with a focus on the fields of healthcare, life science and performance materials across MENA and Africa. The chosen companies receive office space in the respective accelerator location – the Merck Innovation Center in Darmstadt or the Metta in Nairobi. Besides workspaces, startups in both programs receive mentoring and coaching on a regular basis, from a pool consisting of more than 50,000 experts from 67 countries. Furthermore, the teams get financial support of up to €50,000.
Together with BBVA Group, for the 3rd time in a row, Seedstars will source the best Fintech startup, particularly in LATAM. Winners will then be supported by both BBVA and Seedstars to grow their businesses to the next level.
