Six African ed-tech startups have been selected for the fourth edition of the Cape Town-based Injini incubator, which provides access to advisory services and ZAR100,000 (US$6,800) in grant funding.
Injini, the specialised ed-tech incubator of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi), runs in partnership with the UBS Optimus Foundation, the Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS) and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
The programme offers selected ventures access to ZAR100,000 (US$6,800) in grant funding, which will be dispersed in three tranches over the duration of the programme contingent on their ability to meet pre-defined performance and participation expectations. They will also be eligible for follow-on equity investment of up to ZAR1 million (US$68,000).
Selected teams also have the opportunity to attend tailored business workshops and one-on-ones with subject matter experts, engage with the Injini team and its network of mentors and coaches in ed-tech, education, business and technology, and receive a series of customised research and data insights prepared for and with them.
The selected startups include two from South Africa, namely Ambani, which leverages AR for learning in African languages, and Roundafire, which develops interactive e-storybooks in African languages to promote literacy.
Kenya is represented by critical thinking and digital literacy tool Lumen Labs, and Ghana by Smartix Education, which develops digital teaching aids for the classroom.
Also taking part are Nigerian teacher development solution 1 Million Teachers and Sierra Leone-based mobile financial literacy tool Mosabi.
The programme begins on March 23.
