The Africa Tech Festival has shortlisted Bus54, a Nigeria-based mobility technology company providing a platform to aggregate intercity bus transportation in Africa and nine other technology startups as the Top 10 Finalists for Start-Up World Cup 2023.
The other nine are AsaanaPay, Tausi App, DeltaScan, OneWay Connect, UkwenzVR, Hippocampus Education, Benacare, Kyanda Africa and Gradli.
These Top 10 Finalists will battle for the AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition to win the opportunity to represent the African continent in the Startup World Cup on 1 December this year.
Making the announcement, James Williams, Senior Director, Events | Connecting Africa | Informa Tech, remarked: “Congratulations to everyone who entered. We called for the continent’s brightest, most inspiring founders to apply to help build the African innovation ecosystem and they certainly delivered.
“I know I speak for my colleagues, the investors and judges who will be closely monitoring the pitch competition when I say that Africa’s talent, ingenuity, and unmatched potential is abundant and diverse, and this is represented in this broad array of finalists. Therefore, it will be no small task to select just one winner who will represent the continent at the Startup World Cup Final, held by Pegasus in San Francisco on 1st December.”
Providing insight into what she will be looking for in the winning pitch, investor, and AfricaIgnite Pitch Competition judge, Keshni Morar of Investable warns contenders to come prepared. Morar will look for granular detail in the presentations, with a demonstrable understanding of the market in which the start-up is looking to play or is already active. The depth of the go-to-market strategy too for those start-ups at pre-seed capital, is a vital consideration.
But in short, Morar says: “Like every other serious investor out there, I look for the coherence between the pitch story and the data points. If it’s not there, there’s no chance of us getting involved.”
