Stellenbosch-based incubator LaunchLab has announced the nine winners of its IDEAS Pitching Platform competition, with the innovators sharing ZAR100,000 (US$7,500) in funding.
Disrupt Africa reported last month on LaunchLab has opened applications for its IDEAS Pitching Platform, for which it eventually received 108 video business pitch entries. Seventeen finalists pitched at the Pitching Platform final, where judges chose nine winners.
In the Payments and Big Data category, USSD bank card cancellation service Rasffi, taxi app Hand Up and mobile payments service Eatime Airtime emerged winners, while in Education Technology winners were e-learning platform CyFi, offline content service Brands for Literacy and online textbook marketplace Student Hub.
Kwikdrink, a clean water filtration system, won in the Clean Technology category, Cuppa Campus, which allows for cheaper coffee subsidised by advertising on cups, won the Paid Media category, and List, a tool to remember names of those you meet via the context in which you met them, won the Exceptional category.
This semester’s Ideas Programme was enabled through support from the Western Cape Government’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism as well as industry partners Nedbank, Multichoice and Woolworths.
“The pitching platform gives entrepreneurs the chance to step out of their comfort zone and to share their ideas in front of a critical panel of judges and a knowledgeable audience. Developing savvy solutions for real world problems is something Nedbank really believes in and is proud to support,” said Chris Wood, head of emerging payments and strategy at Nedbank.
Philip Marais, chief executive officer (CEO) of the LaunchLab, said the competition had seen a record number of finalists and said the calibre of entrants was a reflection of the entrepreneurial potential in the Western Cape.
“The Pitching Platform winners showcased the true potential of aspiring local entrepreneurs who are dynamic and have innovative, commercially viable business ideas,” he said. “I am excited by the opportunity the LaunchLab provides and to see entrants grow to new levels through our acceleration programmes that help young entrepreneurs understand their entrepreneurial profiles and validate their business models.”
