After an intensive 3-month global search, Startupbootcamp (SBC) has selected the top 10 startups selected to participate in the first ever Africa-based SBC Accelerator programme.
The ten include Brownie Points, Dusu Pay, Fo-Sho, Got Bot, Just Now, Khoyn, MOBicure, Strider, Virtual Drive and Yethu. The accelerator programme kicks off in Cape Town on 4 September 2017.
In a statement Zachariah George, co-MD of Startupbootcamp Africa said, ““The African business and consumer sector is set to be the fastest growing market by the turn of the century. Innovative technological solutions in financial services, artificial intelligence, big data, IoT, etc. are leap-frogging conventional solutions put forward by traditional businesses. We believe that African startups are at the forefront of this innovation trend and we are excited to take part.”
The accelerator is anchored by leading corporate sponsors Old Mutual, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank, Woolworths Financial Services and PwC. SBC travelled across 12 countries and 3 continents conducting 15 FastTrack events culminating in 518 applications from 43 countries, with 409 applications from Africa and 220 of those applications from South Africa alone.
Startupbootcamp is a global family of industry-focused accelerators that supports early-stage tech founders to rapidly scale their companies by providing direct access to an international network of the most relevant mentors, partners, and investors in their industry.
Founded in 2010, Startupbootcamp is a global startup accelerator with 18 programs in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Chengdu, Istanbul, London, Mexico City, Miami, Mumbai, New York, Rome, Singapore. They take startups global by giving them direct access to the international network of the most relevant partners, investors and mentors in their sector in more than 30 countries. 79% of the Startupbootcamp Alumi teams are still active and 71% have gone on to raise additional funding from many of the world’s leading VC’s and angels.
“What brought me to Africa in the first place is a study the United Nations did on the growth of the population globally which dictated that between now and the end of the century the population will increase by 4 billion and of that increase 90% will be in Africa. When you think about an increase of that magnitude, it’s going to require disruption across every element of life. There’s no hope for incremental growth, it’s going to have to scale massively. What’s exciting for us is that we can find massively scalable, disruptive, transformative technologies and solutions and seeing disruption across every element of life. That’s one of the things that makes the Africa programme so unique,” says Philip Kiracofe, co-MD of Startupbootcamp Africa.
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