The finals of the 1776 Challenge Cup global startups competition is to be held in Washington DC tomorrow night, with one Kenyan startup having made the final round.
Disrupt Africa reported this year’s Challenge Cup featured a Nairobi-based event; the only African location included in this year’s world-wide competition, which saw competition legs held in 16 cities across 11 countries. The competition is divided into four categories, namely, education, energy, health, and transport and cities.
Four regional finalists from each leg of the competition – one for each competition category – were invited to 1776’s week-long Challenge Festival, which is taking place this week in Washington DC.
A semi-final for each category has been held over the course of the week, with the two winners of each semi-final to go head-to-head against other category winners in the global finals tomorrow night.
Kenyan startup Twiga Fruits has made it through the rounds in the transport and cities category, and will be one of the finalists competing in the finals tomorrow.
“From Austin to Amman and Boston to Berlin, we’ve traveled the globe to find the world’s most promising startups working to develop inventive solutions to the most fundamental challenges facing cities today,” said 1776 co-founder Donna Harris.
“EverCharge and Twiga Fruits are extremely impressive companies, and set themselves apart as two of the world’s most promising startups in the transportation and cities category. We can’t wait to see what happens Saturday night at the global finals.”
The startups are competing for US$650,000 in cash – the semi-finalists each receive US$50,000 in funding from 1776; while the overall global winner will secure US$150,000 in investment from 1776.
In addition to competing for US$650,000 in prizes, the winners of each category will also win an expenses-paid trip to key industry events where they will have the opportunity to meet with potential new customers and investors.
Disrupt Africa reported in March, 1776 announced a partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), under which 1776’s Challenge Cup will be opened up to 157 countries worldwide, including 30 in Africa.
GEN national hosts and partners in 157 countries will have the opportunity to host local ChallengeX competitions, with the winning startups to participate in the regional Challenge Cup competitions.
