Collaborative medicine platform Rema wins Seedstars Abidjan 2018

Healthtech startup Réseau d’Échange entre Médecins d’Afrique (Rema) has been selected as the winner of this year’s Seedstars Abidjan pitch event. The pitch was held last Friday (26 October).

Rema’s collaborative medicine service enables doctors in Africa, through the Rema app, to collaborate — in real-time — to make better decisions. The startup was founded in January by CEO Sedric Degbo (pictured above). The startup is based in Cotonou in Benin.

A jury panel comprised of Seedstars World’s associate for business development in Francophone Africa Fanny Dauchez, Interaction founder Clyde Vacher, AfricInvest senior manager Cheikh-Souleymane Diallo, African Development Bank chief entrepreneurship and SME development officer Josephine Ndao as well as Sirius Capital for Africa CEO Ismael Cisse selected the winners.

Startup the Dothan Group was placed second for its fintech solution Keiwa, while Tikkeo was placed third for its online event and ticketing platform.

Rema will now represent Ivory Coast at the Seedstars Africa and global summits

By winning Seedstars Abidjan, Rema will go onto represent Ivory Coast at Seedstar’s Africa summit in Tanzania in December and the global summit in Lausanne in April next year. At the global summit, the startup stands a chance to win up to $1-million in funding.

Read more: Here’s how to qualify for 10% discount on Seedstars Africa Summit tickets

Not all of the startups that pitched at Seedstars Abidjan were happy with the judges’ selection. In a post on Twitter yesterday (28 October), payments startup Moja Wallet said it felt the jury panel “has no clue what they are doing”.

“The basic rule a successful startup exist is to build something people want, solve a real problem. We did not see that in their winner,” the startup posted.

Very disappointed in @Seedstars Abidjan not because @moja_wallet did not win but we feel the jury has no clue what they are doing. The basic rule a successful startup exist is to build something people want, solve a real problem. We did not see that in their winner.

— Moja Ride (@moja_wallet) October 28, 2018

Continuing on its world tour of startup scenes in emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, Seedstars World’s next stops are Douala, at the ActivSpaces hub in Cameroon and Johannesburg at the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct this Friday (2 November).

Read more: Here are the 10 tech startups that will pitch at Seedstars Abidjan 2018

Featured image: Rema founder and CEO Sedric Degbo (Sedric Degbo via Facebook)