Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech today announced the eleven best tech startups (three of whom are from South Africa) selected to be the latest cohort in the globally renowned, multi-corporate backed accelerator programme.
SBC AfriTech is the African leg of a global family of industry-focused accelerators and this is the third year that it will be held on the continent.
The top 11 startups chosen for the SBC AfriTech 2019 cohort are:
- Databotics (South Africa) incorporates Robotics Process Automation, giving customers a streamlined solution geared towards generating value for their client base with the least amount of operational effort.
- Rentoza (South Africa) leverages the sharing economy to enable businesses and individuals to list their lazy assets whilst giving customers access to these via a low-cost rental model backed by insurance underwritten by Old Mutual Insure.
- Snapslip Holdings (South Africa) is a digital receipting and analytics application that takes data from each receipt and produces spend, trend and predictive analytics for retailers, banks insurance companies and manufacturers to increase their revenue streams.
- Asilimia (Kenya) digitises payments for small businesses to enable them to access formal financial services.
- Weego (Morocco) is a user-based transport app that helps communities in emergent and developing countries commute, with real-time updates of bus, train and metro arrivals.
- HouseAfrica Blockchain (Nigeria) enables all Africans to participate in the real estate investment marketplace. In addition to solving housing deficits, it allows users to profit from sales, rentals or capital appreciation.
- Curacel Systems (Nigeria) provides intelligent fraud detection and claim fast-tracking technology for African health insurers.
- Yobante Express (Senegal) connects drivers with users, allowing anyone who owns a means of transportation to make money when providing shipping services.
- Cinnamon Clubs (Uganda) improves the management efficiencies of social savings clubs through automated bookkeeping, ensuring accuracy, integrity and transparency of club financial activities to members.
- Survey54 (United Kingdom) has created a mobile-first platform that uses channels such as voice, bots and SMS to collect data on emerging markets and create unique and robust consumer insights.
- YouFarm (Zimbabwe) is a crowdfunding platform that provides farmers with collateral-free finance by getting people to invest in crops and livestock, enabling them to share the profits with the farmers when the produce goes to market. It gives people who don’t own land the opportunity to earn money and participate in the agricultural value chain.
On Monday, 12 August, they will return to Cape Town for the kick-off of the accelerator.
Over a three-month period, they will attend masterclasses, collaborate with corporate partners, and run pilots and proof-of-concepts in order to scale their companies.
The programme will culminate in a Demo Day on Thursday, 7 November when they will showcase their refined products to a network of investors, corporate partners and industry leaders.
Twenty-two startup teams were shortlisted from the 1,900 applications accumulated. They were flown to Cape Town to pitch their businesses over two days to some of the most progressive leaders in the African innovation space, including corporate sponsors, mentors and investors.
“This is the most diverse representation we have ever had with teams from seven different countries across the continent,” SBC AfriTech Programme Director, Nsovo Nkatingi, says.
“Our corporate partners are becoming more sophisticated in their selection process and we are very excited about the potential for commercial agreements with these startups.”
