Crop2cash, Nigerian technology startups, which specializes in the provision of agricultural solutions, has been selected amongst the ten most promising startups from the African continent and is set to compete for USD 500,000 in equity investment and other prizes.
The startup was selected by Seedstars World, which is considered as one of the largest seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes during the latest edition Seedstars Summit Africa in South Africa.
Other startups selected from the continent include Roque Online (Angola), Exuus (Rwanda), Pezesha (Kenya), OKO Finance (Mali), Nadji.bi Gambia (The Gambia), Nvoicia (Ghana), Vectra (South Africa), Afrikamart (Senegal) and Teheca (Uganda).
These startups will represent the African region at the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner, and up to USD 500,000 in equity investment and other prizes.
Speaking on the selection process, Anne-Alice Fievet, the Summit Manager said: “It was very impressive to see all those entrepreneurs from 25+ countries coming together, learning from each other and getting constant support and feedback from mentors, investors, and other industry experts. On top of the content and the networking opportunities they are provided with, their energy is the cherry on the cake.”
She added that ss part of the Seedstars Summit Africa mandate to achieve better gender equality in partnership with the German Corporation and GIZ, the Summit invited an all-women judging panel consisting of: Lyndsey Vandament (Investment Director at Social Venture Fund Global Partnerships), Amanda Cotterman (Partner at Equalife Capital), Anne-Marie Chidzero (CIO at FSD Africa), Rapelang Rabana (Founder and Chair at Rekindle Learning), Absa Gningue (Innovation Officer at the African Development bank), Vivan Nwakah (Founder at Medsaf), and Anicha Abdul (Managing Director of EP Management and Consultancy Services).
According to her, other startups invited to pitch were Track Your Build (Sierra Leone), Yetu Pic (DRC), Sheria Kiganjani (Tanzania), Apptorney (Zambia), Digital Renter (Cameroon), Ocliya (Malawi), Eco Warriors (Mauritius, Lifiled (Côte d’Ivoire), GlocalTravel.io (Zimbabwe), Mohiri (Botswana), Passafree (Cape Verde), Macquarie Medical Care (Namibia), WhyToyz (South Africa).
She said additional prizes were awarded to Zafree Papers, from Ethiopia, who won a 10K USD grant prize for its business as the winner of the Land Restoration Prize in partnership with DOEN, as well as OKO finance from Mali who will receive 3 months access to the investment readiness program as the winner of the Job Creation Prize in partnership with the African Development Bank.
The Summit also hosted a series of keynote speeches from Rapelang Rabana, Kathomi Njeru, Jason Eisen, Chris Lwanga and Vivian Nwakah.
More than just a tech conference, the Seedstars Summit Africa was an opportunity for all stakeholders involved to network and create added value for their impact-driven companies.
Prior to the main day, an intensive growth Bootcamp to teach the 45+ startups how to scale up their businesses. It was followed up by the Investor Forum where the startups had over 180+ one-to-one meetings with top local and international mentors and investors.
Among the companies and institutions that made the Seedstars Summit Africa 2019 possible are Microsoft4Startups, the Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa, DOEN, African Development Bank Group, Tshimologong, the German Society for International Cooperation – GIZ, France24, Venture Burn, Tech Cabal, HYBR, THUD, Workshop 17, AlphaCode and others.