Philippines’ Acudeen Technologies wins Seedstars World

The Filipino startup, Acudeen Technologies was crowned the Seedstars World Global Winner for 2017 on 6 April 2017, taking home the grand prize of USD$500 000 in investment.

Acudeen beat startups from 65 countries at the pitching competition, held at the SwissTech Convention Centre in Lausanne.

The company was crowned the winner for its solution that turns SMEs’ invoices into cash by discounting their receivables. This solution provides SMEs with working capital that they wouldn’t normally get from banks.

Founder of Acudeen technologies, Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III elaborated on his win in a press release to Ventureburn.

“Seedstars was an incredible experience. Much more than just money, it gives me access to a community of like-minded entrepreneurs with whom I hope I will collaborate to create a bigger impact worldwide.”

Out of the 12 startups that pitched at the finals, three were from Africa: Raye7 from Egypt Jamii /EdgePoint Digital Ltd from Tanzania and Kasha from Rwanda.

Acudeen Technologies walks away with the grand prize of USD$500 000 in investments

Five other startups also walked away as winners of special prizes:

• Asafeer Education Technologies from UAE won the TRECC Transforming Education prize, USD$50 000 in grant money.
• UnDosTres from Mexico received the Fintech Prize which grants them full access to the Seedstars Growth Programme as well as five tickets to a Silicon Valley fintech tour.
• qAIRa from Peru was awarded the best prize for Best Woman Entrepreneur presented by Hublot.
• PiQuant from South Korea received the prize for Most Innovative Startup, also presented by Hublot.
• Mind Rockets from Jordan won the Public Vote presented by SPECo.

Co-founder of Seedstars Pierre-Alain Masson also announced a series of initiatives at the summit, some of which include:

• TRECC in partnership with Seedstars will aim to disrupt education by increasing access and affordability of it in Cote d’Ivoire and then across the continent.
• Seedstars together with Enel Green Power will launch the Africa Energy Track, a pitching competition looking for innovative startups in the energy sector. Winners of this competition will be joining Seedstars Growth, an accelerator programme.  Enel Green will also empower the chosen startups through commercial agreements and partnerships.
• Merck Group along with Seedstars has also announced that it’ll be sourcing innovative seed-stage companies in sectors such as healthcare, life science and performance materials across MENA and the rest of Africa. The chosen companies will be receiving office space in respect to its location’s accelerator, chosen companies also receive mentoring and coaching as well as financial support of up to EUR€50 000.

Masson also shared his views on the recent announcements.

“We believe it is fundamental that companies access these high growth opportunities and get the first mover advantage, so with the support of partners such as the SPECo, PayU, TRECC, Intel, FedEx, BBVA, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), pursuing Seedstars’ vision to impact the lives of millions in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship, the group will continue to expand our network of physical spaces in the coming months.”

Featured image via Seedstars