East African mobile startups pitching competition PIVOT East has announced the 50 semi-finalists, with the selected companies now set to be further whittled down to pitch at the event on July 22.
The 50 PIVOT East semi-finalists will be narrowed down to 25 finalists by June 23, before undergoing a month of training before the event itself in Nairobi, Kenya.
Ten semi-finalists have been selected in each of five categories – Mobile Finance, Mobile Enterprise, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Utilities and Mobile Society and Governance. PIVOT East is organised by m:lab East Africa – a consortium comprising iHub, eMobilis, University of Nairobi and the World Wide Web Foundation.
In the Finance category, Eko Biashara, BitFinance, Hisa Play, SoftProviders, Shield, V-Money, KopaLeo, Bangaiza, MOBFIT and Remit Wallet will go head to head for place in the final, while the Enterprise category semi-finalists are Duma Works, Djuaji, Mobu, Sumuni, SapamaHRM.com, Tenderpreneur.net, E-Kodi, SaniCMS, Vivi and Delisasa.
The Entertainment category is made up of Soka, Boresha, Moview, Makarao, ScrinArts, SpotMe, Zaala, TrendingshoW, Guumzo, and Kaka and Chui, while Arifu, BOOKEX, Mysecurity, Ultipedia, Aginfo, Feedback-RT, Politik, eBantu, SoftBallot and Soma Africa will fight it out in the Society and Governance category.
The list of 50 semi-finalists is completed by Safemotos, Snapp Builder, ENT-Mobile, Valid Dreams, Nikweli, Toboa Siri, Javads, Willapps Limited, Yanguwa and African Fashion, all of which will compete in the Utilities category.
The criteria used by the judges helped to evaluate the startups’ purported customer pain, opportunity and customer segments, the solution and its fit to the problem, the revenue model, and analysis of the competitive landscape,” PIVOT East said.
“Other selection criteria items helped to evaluate the calibre of the team and the startups’ focus to grow into sustainable enterprises. These included the team composition and commitment, current market traction, and projections for milestones and key metrics.”
