Three Ugandan start-ups including two fintechs have been selected among the twenty-two applicants that will face off in the last phase to pick top ten projects that will participate in this year’s Startupbootcamp(SBC) Cape Town.
SBSC is a leading accelerator focused on high-growth startups in blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain, e-commerce, retailtech, insurtech, alternative financing, identity management, digital connectivity, data and behavioral analytics and enabling technologies.
The three Ugandan startups are CoinPesa Ltd, an online money transfer platform; RoundBob Uganda, a database for travel content; and Swipe 2 Pay, an e-financial management platform.
They were selected from 1,004 applications 77 countries across 5 continents. The days for the next phase of selection are July 11th and 12th at PwC’s headquarters in Cape Town.
Officials said that the start-ups that applied were impressive and have gained more traction in the market than the applicants for the 2017 cohort.
“It’s been an intense process due to the exceptionally high calibre of start-ups applying to the programme from across the continent,” said Philip Kiracofe, co-founder and CEO of Startupbootcamp Africa.
“From 1,004 applications we have managed to narrow down to 22 of the most creative teams tackling daunting African problems. One of the key differentiators for start-ups that participate in the SBC Accelerator is the opportunity to secure commercial contracts with our sponsors. In order to make it onto our Top 22, each start-up has been chosen by at least 2 sponsors for potential proof of concept projects. The 2018 cohort is already shaping up to be a milestone moment for Africa.”
Zachariah George, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Startupbootcamp Africa added, “The investment community across Africa is taking note of the significant traction and access to market that being an alumni of a global accelerator programme like ours provides. We are excited to further galvanize venture capital funding into tech startups through significant de-risking of business models and customer validation with our corporate partners globally.”
Over the span of the two Final Selection Days, the startups in attendance will have the opportunity to present their pitches to high-profile corporate sponsors, investors, thought leaders and industry experts and will have the chance to sit down with mentors and sponsors alike.
At the end of Day Two, the Top 10 will be announced and will move on to the Cape Town-based Accelerator that kicks off in August 13, 2018. During the 3-month period, they will have the opportunity to scale at an incredible pace and seal pilot and proof of concept deals with the corporate sponsors to the programme, officials said.
The SBC Africa Accelerator is anchored and endorsed by heavyweight corporate sponsors Google, Amazon, Cisco, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank, Old Mutual and PwC.
“We’ve seen an increase in the quality of start-ups applying to the programme. The awareness of the value of the programme has increased and the success of the first year of the bootcamp speaks for itself. More mature start-ups are also seeing the benefits of participating in Startupbootcamp Africa,” comments Stanley Gabriel, Head of Innovation at Old Mutual.
The Top 22 start-ups invited to the Final Selection Days come from 7 different countries. The numbers are as follows: 8 from Nigeria, 5 from South Africa, 3 from Uganda, 2 from the Ivory Coast, 2 from Kenya, 1 from Ghana and 1 from Ireland.
