Timbu.com, a Mauritian travel site, plans to invest $25k in 20 Kenyan travel startups to revolutionize the hospitality industry and help build startups around the curated travel segment.
Timbu.com, focused on African destinations, with a huge presence in Nigeria and other West African countries aims to build its presence in East Africa by investing in travel startups.
The move to invest is borne out of the need to grow the existing tech ecosystem in Kenya and provide entrepreneurs with the necessary resources to grow the country’s startup scene.
Timbu looks to provide more than just the seed funding. “Our intentions are to also guide the startups with getting their initial customers, gain traction, as well as provide them with the ‘best talents’, so as to assist the selected startups to gain Series A and B funding”, said the firm.
Timbu stated early last year that plans to provide mentorship and coaching to startups in Kenya, and provide an enabling environment for entrepreneurs in Kenya to share their experiences are in the pipeline. With the plan finally in motion, it is projected to encourage other angel investors like Timbu to also put more money into Kenyan startups, thus accelerating the growth of local businesses.
Interested startups are required to submit a document containing the following information:
- Company name
- Company URL, if any
- Name and email of the founder(s)
- Role of each founder
- What your company is making and the problem it aims to solve in Kenya
- Who your competitors are and what gives your company edge over them
- How your company intends to make money
All applications should be submitted to funding@timbu.com with the subject line as “Kenyan Startup Funding Application”.
In November last year, Timbu.com announced plans to expand into South Africa and was seeking individuals with technical expertise in software, marketing, and logistics.
From August 2019, the firm had announced it was looking to hire 1,000 South Africans in the next three months. The recruitment drive is aimed at the youthful population of South Africa and was expected to inject more jobs into the South African labour force, as well as reduce the unemployment rate in the country.