Seedstars World: Coming To An African City Near You

Seedstars World: Coming To An African City Near You

Seedstars World – an exclusive seed-stage startup competition focused on emerging markets and fast growing startup scenes – has commenced its African tour. Seedstars World (SSW) has some exciting events coming up in Johannesburg, Lagos, Accra and other major African business hubs, and invite you to take part in their adventure – be it with your own startup company, or as a visitor.
Seedstars World’s mission is to discover the best startups beyond Silicon Valley and Western Europe and help them succeed. By investing in world-class startups, connecting them to potential investors, talent and partners in new countries and promoting companies on a global stage, their work supports entrepreneurs on their path to global success.

If you’re passionate about African startups, are an active, aspiring entrepreneur or simply appreciate innovative business ideas, then Seedstars World provides a great platform to capitalize on your existing work by either winning funding or being inspired by the activities of pioneers using business as a tool for change.
Seedstars World was established following the recognition that, despite great business ideas being geography-agnostic, seed-stage startups in emerging nations often struggle to access funding. As a result, the growth potential of such businesses are limited and job creation and economic growth in emerging economies are not optimized as a result. Thus far, SSW has utilized its business expertise, large network and brand power to facilitate the development of several high-growth businesses in emerging economies. The first winner of the SSW competition, Simplepay is now about to grow their business from Nigeria into Latin America and South-East Asia. SSW aims to enable the birthing and growth of many more international companies that have been developed in emerging economies in the coming years.
To anyone interested in benefitting from this programme, the process for entering the competition involves submitting an online application to one of 50+ local pitching events spread across all of the major African business hubs. The top 10-15 startups from each region will be awarded a chance to sell their businesses to an expert panel of judges, after which, the winner from each event will be invited to the global final in Switzerland consisting of a weeklong adventure including a bootcamp, international conference and an investor forum. The successful party will take home a prize of USD1.5mn in equity investment.
If you are a seed-stage company (i.e. have existed for less than 2 years since the founding date, have less than USD 500’000 in funding and have an MVP available) based in Africa, then check out their website to apply in your city. If you are curious about getting to know the best startups in your city also feel free to get one of the complimentary tickets to see the startups pitch.
Read more about each event using the links below:
Johannesburg, South Africa, July 17, 2015
Lagos, Nigeria, July 30, 2015
Accra, Ghana, August 5, 2015
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, August 12, 2015
Kigali, Rwanda, August 26, 2015
Kampala, Uganda, September 10, 2015
Nairobi, Kenya, October 2, 2015
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 8, 2015
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, October 31, 2015
Dakar, Senegal, November 16, 2015
Gaborone, Botswana, November 27, 2015