Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes brought its Mozambique round to a successful close during Seedstars Maputo.
The event took place this Wednesday at the Standard Bank Incubator, and 12 selected startups were invited to present their ideas in front of the local jury panel.
The local winner, mobile insurance startup Tabech and their product Móvelcare were selected as the best startup in Mozambique for their adjective solution. As a part of the prize, Móvelcare will be participating at Seedstars Summit, taking place in Switzerland in April 2018, a weeklong training program with the opportunity to meet the other +75 winners, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. Traditionally, the final day of the Summit will be dedicated to pitching in front of audience of 1000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to the USD 500,000 equity investment.
| Karingana Wa Karingana Textiles, a platform aiming to revolutionize the African textile market by offering brands customized prints produced on demand, came second and Alltrack, a cross-platform tracking software that allows you to control your car and prevents it from being stolen, grabbed the last spot in the top 3.
The other startups invited to pitch were Supevy, CrimeDown, Dream Solutions Enterprise, Fakul, Kharin Lda, Olenvo, LavaMe, Side, and Tech4Kids Academy. |
The 12 startups pitched in front of a prestigious jury that consisted of Gerrie Kapfidze, Country Head – Mozambique at Unilever, Carlos Vaz Vignolo, Investment Banking (IB) Advisory/Property Manager Standard Bank, Thabo Ncalo, Managing Partner at Savvy Venture Partners, Joana Saranga Senior Communications and Government Affairs Leader at General Electric, Tiago BorgesCoelho Co-founder and R&D specialist at UX Information Technologies, Simon Everest, Managing Director at Coca-Cola Mozambique and Fanny Dauchez, Associate for Africa at Seedstars World.
The Seedstars World Mozambique production has received tremendous support from local ecosystem players such as Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Shell, Internet Solutions, Castle Lite, and Coca-Cola.
Moreover, Seedstars World has partnered with the Merck Accelerator on a regional level, in order to support seed-stage companies with a focus on the fields of healthcare, life science and performance materials. The most promising HealthTech startups will receive office space in the Merck Innovation Center in Kenya or Germany, mentoring and coaching on a regular basis and financial support of up to €50,000. In total, each prize package is worth around €200,000.
Seedstars World also announced during the event that the African Regional summit will be held in Mozambique this year, and bring local winners from over 20 African countries at the end of the year for a series of workshops, panels and discussions on technology and entrepreneurship in Africa.
