STARTUP CORNER
BY BARAKA JEFWA
DEMO Africa demonstrates how good pitching competitions can help startups On last year’s December edition of the CIO East Africa Magazine, on the Start-up Corner column, we touched on some factors that could make or break Start-ups. One of the factors was good pitching competitions, where we gave DEMO Africa as a good example of such an event.
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EMO Africa, now in its fifth year, was for the first time held in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre from 22nd to 26th August 2016. This year’s 30 finalists were picked from a record 723 technology startups from 27 African countries. “The City of Johannesburg wants to position itself as the number one entrepreneurial hub on the continent. This requires that we play a significant role in the African technology innovation ecosystem,” said Ruby Mathang, Member of the Mayoral Committee from the Department of Economic Development for the City, at the time Johannesburg was unveiling details of the DEMO Africa Conference. “The entries this year certainly kept up with the DEMO Africa spirit to produce innovative and creative ideas that are bound to transform the technology landscape and we are excited by the growth of innovation and technological advancement in Africa as portrayed by our finalists,” said Harry Hare, DEMO Africa Executive Producer while congratulating the finalists.
The question on your mind must be, how could a pitching competition help startups in their quest to become top companies? One good answer is that, with such competitions start-ups are helped to raise funds; a good example of this is when In 2015 DEMO Africa participants raised US$4 million in funding. Apart from raising funds, DEMO Africa has an extra advantage to most pitching competitions, as each year the top 5 start-up companies benefit from the DEMO Africa LIONS programme, a partnership between DEMO Africa and the LIONS@FRICA initiative that curates a 2-week Innovation Tour of Silicon Valley. The Innovation Tour exposes the start-ups to the technology and investment ecosystem in the Silicon Valley with the aim of creating bridges and attracting investments from investors from the Valley. The top 5 companies at this year’s DEMO Africa were as follows: Sortd- The product suite is aimed at helping people escalates conversations into action right from the source; ConnectMed- an online machine learning-enabled telehealth platform that allows patients to seek treatment from GPs over video for common ailments; Strauss Energy- sells electricity to homeowners and organizations at 75% cheaper than the national grid; Solstice Home Energy Solutions- Solstice has developed a low cost energy monitoring solution for Nigerian households; MediaBox- MediaBox can make any existing TV old or new a truly smart device for entertainment, education & access to the internet. While announcing the winners, Stephen Ozoigbo, the CEO at African Technology Foundation, the agency implementing the LIONS@ FRICA initiative said the companies that had been picked have a global outlook and can benefit by seeing how other such companies are doing in the United States.
Startup Corner: (L-R) The moderator watches on as James Muir, Managing Director & Co-founder, Mediabox, and Roeland Van Nieuwkerk, Technical Director & Co-founder, Mediabox, pitch to the judges as the audience watches on at the DEMO Africa competition.
DEMO Africa 2016 list of finalist startups Grid Supply Chain Loystar Iyris KO Ltd Cocktail Insights Boresha Limited Ujuzi Software Solutions 32
MumsVillage Ltd Strauss Energy IT Brothers Nextwi Solstice HES WESABI
ArtNigeria Shuttlers Rubiqube Limited SharpHire Global Limited Vuga Ltd ConnectMed Reel Gardening SolarCap Pty Ltd
“These companies have a global appeal and have the highest potential to becoming global companies,” said Ozoigbo. “By participating in the innovation tour, we are helping to connecting these companies to the global innovation ecosystem and also continue connecting them to potential investors,” he concluded.
RadioVybe Sortd ION Comsys Ekasi Energy 4th Element
K Measure Pty Ltd Zivo Learning flexyPAYIntenational Telescrypts Lipa Mobile
See more at: http://www.demo-africa.com/news/demo-africa-2016-final-30-list#sthash.35jKHO7H.dpuf CIO EAST AFRICA | OCTOBER 2016 | www.cio.co.ke