Nine startups have been selected to pitch at the Dakar leg of the Seedstars World early stage startup competition, with the winner to represent Senegal at the global final in Switzerland next year, standing the chance to win up to US$1 million in equity investment.
Seedstars is currently touring Africa, and other emerging markets, following the culmination of the last edition of the competition in April – won by Ghanaian startup AgroCenta. African events have already been held in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya and Uganda.
The Dakar event is next on the agenda, set to take place on September 7, at the headquarters of event partner Sonatel. Registration to attend is open here.
Selected to pitch are cultural experience platform Lives; identification app Loyset; ticketing platform mTick; entertainment platform MusikBi; and off-grid solar solution OniriQ.
Also making the cut are urban logistics service Paps; digital tax collection service for municipalities Townpay; public transport mapping app Sunubus; and accounts solution for retailers Shopkeepers.
Last year’s Seedstars Dakar event was won by fintech startup MaTontine, which is improving access to small loans and related financial services like microinsurance by digitising traditional savings circles.
The startup went on to secure support from the World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), rolling out a nationwide pilot; and was recently named a finalist in the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, run by the the Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship and the Mastercard Foundation.
