South African startups Aerobotics, IoT.nxt and LifeQ are among the 10 selected by Nedbank, which is connecting innovative startups with major corporates and business leaders in partnership with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play.
Nedbank last month announced the expansion of its US partnership with innovation platform Plug and Play to include South Africa for the first time, with the partners set to connect 10 entrepreneurs from around the world to business leaders at The Disruption Agenda to be held in Johannesburg in September.
The selected startups include three heralding from South Africa itself, namely satellite and drone-based crop management platform Aerobotics, Internet of Things solutions provider IoT.nxt, and health startup LifeQ, the latter of which is now headquartered in the US.
Four US startups have also been selected to take part, as well as companies from Belgium, Israel and the United Kingdom (UK).
“We’re incredibly excited for the 10 startups that are going to be part of The Disruption Agenda. The most important thing for Nedbank is to get pilots and experiments underway and push straight through to commercialisation where possible,” said Stuart van der Veen, head of disruption and innovation at Nedbank CIB.
“We’ve engaged with our most forward-thinking clients and they will be participating in both the deal-flow sessions and be present at the actual pitches of the startups.”
Dylan Garnett, chief operating officer (COO) of LifeQ, said the company was looking forward to taking part in the programme.
“I am very excited that LifeQ has been selected for Plug and Play as it will undoubtedly serve as a great platform to help identify and, along with others, address real needs that exist in South Africa and the broader African continent, thereby furthering LifeQ’s vision of improving human health and wellbeing at scale,” he said.
