Education-focused 3D solution Why Toyz has been named winner of the Johannesburg leg of the Seedstars World competition, booking a place at the Africa regional final.
Seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets Seedstars World is selecting national winners from all over the world, including around 30 African countries, and will take many of them to the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland next year to compete for funding and a host of other prizes.
It has already chosen winners in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Angola, The Gambia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cape Verde, Tunisia, Malawi, Cameroon, Mauritius, Uganda, Libya, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Zambia, Mali, Botswana, Nigeria, Namibia, and Cape Town, and held its Johannesburg event last week at JoziHub.
Nine startups were selected to take part, with Why Toyz named overall winner. The startup provides fun, educational content for young kids that can be 3D-printed at home or at school to raise a new generation of creators.
Why Toyz, alongside runner up 3DIMO, a sports startup, will now head to the Seedstars Africa regional summit – taking place this week, also in Johannesburg – where all the African winners will compete for an all-inclusive trip to the global final in Switzerland next year. The winner of the global final takes home US$500,000 in equity investment.
Third place went to Nubian Smarts, the startup behind the NuMaths Kids app, while the other startups that pitched were My Pregnancy Journey, Watertech, Smergos, UrbanSense, Top Code, and Yonke.
