Global startups competition Seedstars World is to kick off a string of African events tonight in Maputo, Mozambique, with 11 startups to pitch for the Mozambique winner’s title.
Last year’s Seedstars World competition visited 36 countries across the globe, including eight African countries. However, Disrupt Africa reported in April Seedstars World announced this year the competition will include regional heats in 12 African cities; the first of which is to be held in Maputo, Mozambique this evening.
Today’s competition sees the global pitching event visit Mozambique for the first time.
“Mozambique is very special because it marks a lot of firsts for us. It’s the first event of the year, the first event in Africa and the first time ever we have an event in Mozambique,” Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World told Disrupt Africa.
“We have selected 11 great startups to pitch today, they come from a wide variety of industries and from different parts of the country, I’m really excited to see who the Jury will select as the winner tonight.”
The 11 selected startups are Maparato – a web platform to connect buyers and sellers of food -; Taxi Track, a mobile app to find and book buses and taxis; online media portal MMO; SMS-based food ordering system Time 2 Work; Marrar, an e-learning platform helping students pass admission exams; cinema and event booking management system Moovi; Mozambiqe’s own “Amazon” – Compra; Cyac, an e-commerce platform for pharmacies; online curated content store Xava; No Code – a convenient app to use USSD codes; and Mozambikes, a social enterprise providing branded bikes for rural areas.
Following the event in Mozambique, Seedstars World will host further African heats in Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos in Nigeria; Ghanaian capital Accra; Abidjan in the Ivory Coast; Dakar, Senegal; Kampala, Kigali and Nairobi – the capitals of Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya respectively; Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Botswana’s Gaborone.
The competition is divided into three categories – the general competition open to all startups is to be known as the STARS track; travel startups will compete separately – following a partnership with lastminute.com – under the TRAVEL track; and a bespoke FINTECH track will take place for fintech innovators.
Regional winners will progress to the global final to be held in Switzerland in February 2016, where finalists will compete to win US$1.5 million in investment; US$500,000 for the winner of each track.
Disrupt Africa is very pleased to have been named the African media partner for the Seedstars World competition. We look forward to bringing you all the Seedstars World news!
