Seedstars World has announced 10 startups that will compete in the Nigerian leg of the global startup competition, which will see one selected to take part in the final in Switzerland next year.
Seedstars World events have already taken place in Maputo, Mozambique and the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg, with the Lagos leg to take place on Friday, July 31 as part of the ongoing Lagos StartupWeek.
Ten startups have been chosen to take part in the Nigerian competition, while one additional company will be added as a result of the UberPITCH competition, which is taking place today.
The startups are transport app MyQ, SMS tractor on-demand service Hello Tractor, business marketplace Bazar NG, online food delivery service Food-I-Like, e-commerce store Skarabrand, payment gateway CowriePay, HR and payroll software Talentbase, digital content distribution system NerveFlo, payments app MBills, and power provider Intellectric.
“We are really happy to partner with StartupWeek in Nigeria as it is one of the largest and most important events for entrepreneurship in the country,” said Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World.
“We believe partnerships are an essential element to drive the growth of an ecosystem and we couldn’t have found a better partner for this. Together with StartupWeek Lagos we can promote entrepreneurship and elevate Nigerian startups to a global stage.”
The Seedstars 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.
