East African mobile startup pitching competition PIVOT East is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, today, with 25 startups to pitch throughout the day, spanning five competition categories. Here Disrupt Africa introduces the five startups who pitched in the entertainment category.
Moview
Moview is an app for movie lovers across East Africa, providing movie information for all the major cinemas across Kenya and Tanzania. The app provides movie listings, showtimes, movie synopses, as well as allowing users to watch movie trailers.
The Moview app also provides added features for movie goers, ranging from sending instant notifications when new films are listed at a cinema, to providing maps to help users find cinemas.
The startup is seeking US$50,000 in investment.
Kaka and Chui
Kaka and Chui is a mobile educational game, targeting children aged between three and six years old. Responding to the lack of cartoons based on African stories, the animated game features local characters and tales, and aims to teach the basics of the Swahili language.
Having launched a test product two months ago, Kaka and Chui is already played by 100 users, without the startup having done any advertising to encourage uptake.
The startup is seeking US$120,000 investment, to use on content development and sales.
Makarao TV
Makarao TV is a YouTube based animation channel, specialising in African content for a global audience. The startup hopes to tap into the global migration towards online television, with 50 per cent of TV viewing expected to be online by 2020.
Since launching the YouTube channel one year ago, Makarao TV already has over 6,000 subscribers, and has clocked up over 700,000 views.
Makarao TV is seeking US$150,000 to allow further content development, hiring personnel, and for further marketing.
Guumzo
Guumzo is a simple, safe voice content sharing platform. Guumzo enables users to record voice clips of up to two minutes in length, and share it via the platform.
Based on a freemium model, the startup is targeting one million non-paying users and 100,000 paying users in Tanzania over the next two years, whereafter it has plans to expand across Africa.
The team is seeking US$150,000 for product development and customer acquisition.
Soka
Soka provides a solution for soccer lovers across Africa, who want access to content relating to local football leagues. While content platforms exist for international football leagues, none serve African football fans.
As such, the Soka app provides content relating to soccer leagues across Africa – from statistics and match reports, to video clips of matches.
The startup is seeking US$17,000 for further development, hiring content writers, and continued content development.