Pivot East 2015 announces mobile startup semi-finalists

Pivot East, an East African-based startups competition for tech companies, has announced its semi-finalists for this year’s competition. All entries were based on a number of criteria were allowed from a large number of African countries, the majority being from East Africa.

Going on its fifth year, the competition originally focused on app developers, but has shifted focus as a startup pitching event. The aim of Pivot East is to help startups organise and refine their business model. It also looks to expose these companies to investors, corporate, research and development companies, and the general public. According to the Pivot East website, “It is more than a competition — its a holistic platform for mobile startups organisational development and business model refinement.”

Pivot East is organised by m:lab East Africa, which is a combined effort from iHub, Emobilis, and the University of Nairobi.

The finalists’ conference will be taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, on 22 July.

This year’s competition has accepted entries from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Israel.

The judging criteria is based on customer pain, opportunity, if the solution fits a problem, revenue model, and analysis of the competitive landscape. Apart from this teams are also judged on their team composition, commitment, market traction, and key metrics.

The semi-finalists for Mobile Finance are:

• BitFinance (Kenya) – a Bitcoin buying and selling platform
• Eko Blashara (Kenya) – a business finance tracker for desktops and mobile
• Hisa Play (Kenya) – a stock market simulation game with builtin social network
• SoftProviders LTD (Rwanda) – an IT solutions provider
• Shield (Kenya) – FinTech company offering payroll and finance services
• V-Money (Tanzania) – A cash-in/top-up mobile money offering based on scratch cards
• KopaLeo (Kenya) – platform for crowd sourcing micro finance, insurance data, and user information on loan borrowing
• Bangaiza (Kenya) – mobile solution for bank customers to issue standing order instructions to mobile money and paybill numbers
• MOBFIT (Uganda) – web-based mobile platform for business financial management
• Remit Wallet (Kenya) – a zero rated product will transform funds transfer from diaspora to be more efficient with reduced cost of transaction

The semi-finalists for Mobile Enterprise are:

• Duma Works (Kenya) – SMS-based job matching platform
• Djuaji (Kenya) – scalable survey-based research, which pays respondents with mobile money
• Mobu (Kenya) – discovery commerce to turn excess and new stock/services into marketing
• Sumuni (Kenya) – online classifieds platform for businesses and individuals
• SapamaHRM.com (Kenya) – a Cloud Human Resource Management System
• Tenderpreneur.net (Kenya) – cloud-based platform automating supplier and tender discovery
• E-Kodi (Kenya) – platform for the real estate industry
• SaniCMS (Kenya) – platform for helping churches manage their congregation
• Vivi (Kenya) – an online socio-commerce community
• Delisasa (Kenya) – online discovery for small businesses

The semi-finalists for Mobile Entertainment are:

• Soka (Tanzania) – mobile platform for keeping up to date with local African football
• Boresha (Kenya) – digital content creator for educational ebooks, games, revision tests, and more
• Moview (Tanzania) – application to give instant information on movies in Africa
• Makarao (Kenya) – a comedic 2D animated series on YouTube
• ScrinArts (Kenya) – first company in East Africa to develop AAA game titles
• SpotMe (Kenya) – geo-location program to track friends and meet new ones
• Zaala (Uganda) – a mobile game
• TrendingshoW (Uganda) – an app for giving program lineups of any local TV station
• Guumzo (Tanzania) – a way to share public voices
• Kaka and Chui (Kenya) – game teaching children Swahili

The semi-finalists for Mobile Society are:

• Arifu (Kenya) – education marketplace for information on trusted organisations
• BOOKEX (Kenya) – application facilitation primary school students exchange primary school books
• MySecurity (Kenya) – real-time list of crowd-sourced crime, missing, and wanted persons data
• Ultipedia (Kenya) – android game for exam preparation
• Aginfo (Tanzania) – helping to facilitate financing of smallholder farmers, input and output, and keep an online database
• Feedback-RT (Uganda) – mobile puzzle game to promote HIV/AIDS awareness
• Politik (Kenya) – aims to increase participation amongst political leaders and the public
• eBantu (Uganda) – helps Ugandan youth be more valuable by providing inspiring videos of local achievers
• SoftBallot (Kenya) – online voting system
• Soma Africa (Uganda) – apply to any school and for any course in Uganda

The semi-finalists for Mobile Utility are:

• Safemotos (Rwanda) – uses smartphone sensors to determine whether a moto taxi driver is safe
• Snapp Builder (Kenya) – an app building platform
• ENT-Mobile (Kenya) – brings service provider products to users
• Valid Dreams (Kenya) – directory for Students/Individuals looking for career options
• Nikweli (Tanzania) – mobile-to-web job matching platform that connects employers and job-seekers
• Toboa Siri (Kenya) – content sharing application
• Javadas (Kenya) – advertising platform for SME’s
• Willapps Limited (Uganda) – mobile application ensuring public safety by facilitating vigilance and pro-activity
• Yanguwa (Uganda) – on-demand application connecting clients with reliable transporters across East Africa
• African Fashion (Tanzania) – platform for sharing African fashion, showing off outfits, and keeping up to date with the style

Updated: As pointed out by some of our readers we have extended the article to include the full list. Apologies for any confusion. caused