Livestock management app Modisar has been crowned winner of the Botswanan leg of startup pitching competition Seedstars World, in the final African event of the world-touring competition.
This year’s Seedstars World saw the global contest host African heats in Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast,Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola and Tanzania, Senegal and finally, Botswana.
Modisar now joins the ranks of the regional winners, who will all progress to the global finals to be held in February 2016, in Switzerland; where they will pitch head-to-head for the chance to win US$500,000 in investment.
“It feels great to win, we put a lot of effort into this event and we are happy that we can keep on working on making to making our customers happy,” said Alec Agisanyang, lead software engineer for Modisar.
Two runners-up were also named; with first runner-up going to NGO Grow – a social network for NGOs that stops duplication of effort, allows collaboration and pulls in corporate funding -; and second runner-up given to Earth Love, a food waste recycling business.
Held at the Microsoft Innovation Centre, the jury comprised Mesharet Kuhlmann, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Media Expreshunz; Rebi Odirile, First Steps Venture Centre liaison officer; Patel Barwabatsile, manager at Microsoft Innovation Center; and Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World.
“We have always believed that the talent exists in Botswana and this event is proof of that. All nine startups selected demonstrated exceptional vision and a real hunger and desire to change the world with their businesses. For us the journey has just begun,” said Kuhlmann.
The regional finalists will now reconvene in Switzerland at end of February 2016 to participate in the Seedstars Summit, where the entrepreneurs will have a three day bootcamp, consisting of training and mentoring sessions by international investors, mentors from top accelerators, business strategy consultants and top CEOs.
The final competition will then take place on March 3rd, 2016, and the Seedstars World Global Winner will be named and receive up to US$500,000 in equity investment.
Startups active in the travel and fintech sectors will also compete for a further US$500,000 investment; and space startups have the chance to win a US$50,000 grant.
