Global early-stage startups competition Seedstars is to hold South African events in Cape Town and Johannesburg ahead of a national final to decide which startup will head to the global final to compete for up to US$1 million in equity investment.
Seedstars, which has already picked African winners in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau, will hold national semi-finals in Cape Town on October 19 and Johannesburg on November 2.
Applications are now open for each event, with 10 startups to pitch in each city. The top three from each event will go forward to the national final, which takes place back in Cape Town on November 14. The winner of that event, for which startups can also apply to take part, will head to the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland next April, where they stand the chance of winning up to US$1 million in equity investment and other prizes.
Companies selected to pitch at any of the events need to be less than two years old, have raised less than US$500,000 in funding, and have built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. The Seedstars team is also looking at a startup’s regional and global scalability.
“Seedstars World is a platform that connects investors and stakeholders with the next generation of entrepreneurs. Since this will be our fourth time organising Seedstars World events at South Africa, the stakes are high and we are very excited,” said Claudia Makadristo, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars.
“We have been in this ecosystem for more than three years now and know there are companies in South Africa developing high-quality products. We are looking for the best and will take them with us to Switzerland in 2019.”
