South African fire detection startup, Lumkani has been awarded US$75 000 at Chivas Regal’s global The Venture competition. The Scottish whiskey brand awarded a total of US$1-million to five social enterprises that pitched in San Francisco this week.
Chile’s food distributor Algramo walked away with the largest share of US$300 000.
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Representing Uruguay at The Venture, livestock-tracking startup Chipsafer and Japan’s field-monitoring SenSprout each won US$150 000. As with Lumkani, Diseclar from Columbia received US$75 000 for turning waste into furniture.
“This is a big win for us, we can start rolling out bigger parts of our business model which require more capital, test new strategies and really scale our sales and marketing across the country, continent and world,” Lumkani’s managing director David Gluckman told htxt.africa.
Lumkani is recognised for its innovative fire detection system. Focusing on dense settlements, the Cape Town-based startup’s fire detection device sends an SMS with GPS locations to community leaders and the local fire department in times of danger.
Read more: Impact Beyond Innovation: How Lumkani’s fire detection system is saving lives
In March, Lumkani won US$50 000 from Chivas Regal’s Win the Right Way competition.
The startup then joined 20 entrepreneurs from around the globe in Silicon Valley for a two-week mentorship programme.
“Being part of The Venture has been a brilliant journey which culminated in the accelerator week in Silicon Valley and now this win. We are very proud to represent Africa,” he added.
Over the years, Lumkani has been recognised by the Technology Innovation Agency, the Shuttleworth Foundation as well as Seedstars World last year, among many other achievements.
