Denis Opudo
Seedstars World’s fifth edition came to an end with a Seedstars Summit in Lausanne Switzerland. The summit saw more than 65 local startups crowned as winners. Seedstars World is the biggest startup competition globally that focuses on upcoming markets. The 2018 summit gave startups a chance to take part in a bootcamp which is a forum held for private investors. The startups had a chance to pitch their ideas to get to the finals among the 12 finalists to go through a competition on stage. They all had an opportunity to have 700 one-on-one sessions with investors.
The finalists pitched their ideas in front of above 1,000 attendants. They also pitched them to startup lovers, great names of entrepreneurship and tech in upcoming markets and investors. The judges constituting of an international panel that included Theta capital Group, Nikunj Jinsi and Seedstars’ Benjamin Benaim agreed to award AgroCenta from Ghana the 2018 investment. AgroCenta is a startup that tracks the access to food and the stock-flow issues all over Ghana. The startup was founded to offer an online market that will easily connect small-scale farmers to the market. The startup took home an equity investment worth $500,000. It was also won a growth training opportunities at the 2018 Seedstars Summit.
Francis Obirikorang the founder of AgroCenta lauded the step his company took to win the award. He says that the award will have a great influence on the company’s growth and success in the future. Startups from upcoming economies run short of access to infrastructure. They also lack access to important tools like mentoring and networking. The seedstars workforce is talking good about AgroCenta’s talent and ideas to their global network.
Seedstars’ co-founder Piere-Alain Masson says that AgroCenta won the award due to its disruptive nature that it is causing in the farming sector. Investors have to realize that there is much talent everywhere. Startups and tech entrepreneurs in upcoming markets are working very hard to provide solutions to the social challenges in the motherlands. Seedstars awarded seven more prizes apart from the $500,000 investment award. Here are the seven awards;
Nigeria based EDVES won the Transforming Education Prize. Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (TRECC) and School of Management Fribourg (HEG Fribourg) gave the award. Furthermore, it will be able to access the Seedstars Growth Program valued at $50,000.
Finchat Technologies based in Singapore won the Finchat Technologies. It got an opportunity to take part in their annual BBVA Open Summit scheduled to take place in Madrid Spain.
Kenyan based Solar Freeze won the Africa Energy Prize by Enel X. The award is given to startups that work on offering solutions to give solar-powered cold storage systems to small-scale farmers that do not require grid connection in sub-Saharan Africa. The startup won an access to a training program that will take place for one three months valued at $50,000.
South Africa based EMGuidance got the Health Tech award given by Merck. The winner benefits from joining the Merck Accelerator. It also gets financial support of €50,000. Furthermore, it receives an office space at the Merck Innovation.
Bangladesh based CMED won the Innovation Prize by TAG Heuer.
Seesstars Summit partnered with TAG Heue to award Nigerian based Medsaf. Medsaf is the Best Woman Entrepreneur prize. The partnership aimed at taking note of the women entrepreneurs in their personal ecosystem.
Argentina based Alquilando received the Time Saviour Prize, by TAG Heuer. They received the award for their work on providing a solution to process, simplify, reduce risk and guarantee payment of rent on time.
The climax of the event came when the public took part in voting for their preferred startup. The award is known as the Public Prize. The 2018 prize went to Junkbot Robotics a Veuve Clicquot’s premium gift. The company is from Switzerland. Economic Affairs (SPECo) awarded the prize.
Here are the 12 startups that made it to the finals
Indonesian based SayurBox
CMED from Bangladesh
Ghanaian based Agrocenta
Junkbot Robotics from the United Arab Emirates
Ukrainian Eve.calls
South African based EMGuidance
Medsaf from Nigeria
Mexican Payit
Redcapital from Chile
Brazilian based Celcoin
GiftedMom from Cameroon
KarGo startup from Myanmar
