Illuminum Greenhouses wins Airbus BizLab E. Africa pitch event

Kenyan agritech startup Illuminum Greenhouses was yesterday selected as the winner of global aerospace accelerator Airbus Bizlab‘s AEROmobility inaugural pitching event for East Africa.

The startup pitched against 11 other startups from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone to grab the 10-day all expenses paid trip to France and Germany, where it will meet with experts from Airbus as well as investors.

Illuminum Greenhouses pitched an integrated solar-powered smart farming solution called Farmshield. The system leverages the power of the Internet of Things (IoT), using sensors that are controlled by a user via SMS.

Judges at the event included representatives from the aerospace accelerator and Safaricom Innovation, the German embassy, Novato, Proteq Automation Systems and Cellulant.

“It is amazing to experience the passion of the different teams applying from across East Africa for AEROmobility and to assess the high quality of submissions,” Bruno Gutierres said in a press release.

Eight of the startups that pitched at the Airbus BizLab AEROmobility East Africa pitch event are from Kenya

The other startups to pitch at the event include:

Aerobot Technologies Limited (Kenya): Startup developing autonomous drones.

ESIPPS International Limited (Uganda): Developing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sensor system with wide applications in agriculture.

Kuunda 3D Limited (Kenya): 3D printing service working out of Nairobi.

Maisha (Ethiopia): Drone startup developing Nisre-Tena, a fixed-wing drone that aims to transport blood from Ethiopia’s 26 blood banks to the country’s remote rural health facilities.

QTRON Industries Limited (Kenya) : Startup developing 3D printing technology that uses recycled plastic waste in prototyping and data visualisation.

Swahili Box (Kenya): Remote controlled submersible drone with applications in oil exploration, marine research and surveillance.

Savannah Circuit Technologies Limited (Kenya) : Developed SmartSec, a security device that detects intrusion and sends quick notifications and real-time footage of the intrusion.

Startup Lions (Kenya): Developing solutions in fisheries regulation, logistics, spacial mapping as well as internet connectivity.

Track Your Build (Sierra Leone) : Track Your Build is developing an interactive construction project management and analytics platform. The platform will make use of satellite mapping imagery and surveillance drones.

UAV Kenya (Kenya):  A drone manufacturing company.

The Airbus BizLab AEROmobility #Africa4Future initiative was launched in August and is aimed at South African and East African startups. It aims to identify and help promising startups develop solutions in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite operations and imagery, 3D printing, smart sensors, IoT, smart energy and artificial intelligence (AI).

Last week Friday (22 September), a Cape Town-based airship startup Cargonaught won the South African round of the pitching competition.

Read more: Startup Cargonaught off to France after winning Airbus BizLab AEROmobility pitch
Read more: Potential in African tech ecosystem, we will be back – Airbus BizLab head

Featured image: Illuminum Greenhouses founder Taita Ngetich with Airbus BizLab AEROmobility East Africa judges at the Chandaria Business Incubation Centre, Kenyatta Universit