Nigeria’s 440.ng accelerator programme held its Demo Day yesterday, with the participating startups pitching their products and services to the investor audience.
440.ng said the startups gave the best presentations of their companies to date, with one of the startups – gadget marketplace Obiwezy – given a standing ovation and prompting the audience to chant the company’s name.
Among the guests were investors, mentors, press, and representatives of 440.ng partners Diamond Bank, Google, Main One, Microsoft and Jobberman.
“Of course, its now the real hard work starts, as [the startups]try and prove that they can continue to grow, run their businesses, hire new staff, and for some of them raise more funding,” said 440.ng co-founders Chika Nwobi and Kresten Buch.
“We wish them the best, and while its now time to take a step back, and let them go at it solo, we’re checking in frequently and following this journey they are about to embark on.”
The 440.ng accelerator programme began on September 22, and saw nine startups receive mentoring and assistance with product development, revenue generation and customer acquisition throughout the 12-week programme, which culminated in yesterday’s event.
The nine startups pitching at Demo Day were online fashion retailer Jay Osbie, gadget marketplace Obiwezy, app for preparing for exams Pass.ng, digital fuel payments system Fuelvoucher, digital learning startup Youngsoul, online fashion label Ella, online fruit and vegetables platform Gingerbox, cloud-based retail platform Taja, and religious platform prayerbox.co.
Buch recently told Disrupt Africa seven of the nine startups are already revenue making, with one of them making over US$60,000 per month.
