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Entrepreneur who heads Innovation Prize for Africa jailed, event postponed
Swiss Angolan entrepreneur Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais -- the founder of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) -- has been jailed in Angola and the organisation's annual prize-giving event -- which was due to be held next month in Rwanda -- has been postponed. The (IPA) is an annual competition which honours leading entrepreneurs and innovators on the continent and is run by the African Innovation Foundation. A Bloomberg report on Monday said Angola’s state prosecutor arrested and jailed Bastos de Morais (pictured above) alongside Jose Filomeno dos Santos, the son of former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, over the alleged illegal...
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Seedstars World announces the 10 startups set to pitch at Seedstars Maputo
Seedstars World, one of the world’s largest startup competitions, has announced the 10 Mozambican startups that will pitch at Seedstars Maputo on Friday (28 September). The 10 startups are set to pitch in front of a panel comprised of Standard Bank Mozambique head of investment banking Joao Guirengane, Savvy Venture Partners managing partner Thabo Ncalo, UX Information Technologies co-founder Borges Coelho, and Seedstars associate Maryam Mgonja. The winner of the pitch event will win an all-inclusive trip to attend the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in April next year where they stand to win up to $1-million in equity investments. The 2018 edition of the Seedstars Maputo pitch event is...
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Former Springleap founder Eran Eyal named as ‘co-CEO’ of Shopin
SA entrepreneur and former Springleap founder Eran Eyal, who faces fraud charges in the US, is officially back as the head of US blockchain startup Shopin. Eyal (pictured above) was charged on 24 August by the New York Attorney General with allegedly stealing $600,000 from investors by fraudulently soliciting investors to purchase convertible notes through false representations of his company, Springleap. If convicted of the top count charged, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Following his arrest last month, Shopin named Jennifer Haggerty as interim head (see this story), suggesting that the company had removed Eyal from his position as CEO or that...
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Cape Town startup RapidDeploy to move HQ to US after AT&T deal for 911 product
Just over a month after announcing a deal with US telecoms giant AT&T to offer its platform to the US's 911 service, SA startup RapidDeploy is moving its headquarters to the US. RapidDeploy claims that its cloud-based technology platform, offers emergency first responders relevant and accurate information in real time on a critical situation. This reduces response times dramatically, in scenarios where every second is a matter of life or death. The platform is already deployed in over 35 agencies around the world, with the solution deployed as far afield as Fiji. To date, the platform has processed tens of thousands of emergency calls. CEO and co-founder Steven Raucher (pictured above, right) revealed the news...
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Kenyan insurtech Bluewave takes top honours at 2018 Seedstars Nairobi
Nairobi-based insurtech startup Bluewave Insurance Agency has come out tops at Seedstars Nairobi pitch event. At an event held on Friday (21 September), the startup out-pitched six other contestants to win the coveted title of Nairobi's best startup of 2018 and for an opportunity to represent Kenya at Seedstar's Worlds regional and global summits. The insurtech startup was placed first ahead of salesforce automation platform Optimetriks and edtech company Angaza Elimu, which came in second and third, respectively. Bluewave Insurance Agency uses a USSD platform to sign on clients -- which enables the company to serve those with the simplest mobile devices. The startup -- which was founded in 2015 by...
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Edtech solution Schoolap lands Labes Key Seedstars Kinshasa 2018 win
Congolese software development startup Labes Key has been selected as the winner of the 2018 edition of the Seedstars Kinshasa pitch competition. The Kinshasa-based startup was crowned the winner of the Seedstars Kinshasa pitch event after its edtech enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution Schoolap was selected ahead of 10 other solutions at an event held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) capital last Friday (21 September). The pitching event is only the second such annual pitch that Seedstars has hosted in the DRC. Labes Key's Schoolap platform aims to improve the quality of teaching in the central African country by providing users with access...
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Prodigy Finance raises over R14bn in new debt financing round
UK-based fintech Prodigy Finance -- founded by SA entrepreneur Cameron Stevens -- announced today that it has raised R14.39-billion in the last 12 months in debt financing. The company lends to students globally via an Irish Stock Exchange listed bond. In a statement today, the company -- started by Stevens (pictured above) in 2007 -- said the financing primarily consists of R12.95-billion in institutional debt facilities from American, European and Asian lenders. These include Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, M&G Investments and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Other investors include schools, family offices and high-net-worth individuals participating in Prodigy Finance’s international bond programme distributed by Credit Suisse. The company...
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How Jozi innovator turned loyalty card hobby into startup with over 150 clients
Not many of us have had the fortune to be able to turn our hobbies into a full-fledged business as Tshepiso Manyoha has had. Manyoha, the founder of Johannesburg based loyalty and rewards startup Loyal1 last week won R500 000 worth of prizes in The Workspace and MiWay Business Insurance Entrepreneur Competition. He founded the company with Tsietsi Molai and Nokuthula Manyoha in 2015. About 150 small businesses currently use his "loyalty-as-a-service" platform. "We have a few large corporates that we are in advanced talks with and one that is already concluded and initiating integration," says Manyoha, who declined to disclose the name of the corporate. Loyal1...
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Here’s what you need to know about Kenya’s tech startup ecosystem
Are you a venture capitalist or an angel investor looking to invest in a company? Are you an entrepreneur looking for capital or other opportunities? Are you an aspiring startup owner looking for assistance? Well, you have come to the right place. Ventureburn presents the 2018 guide to Kenya’s startup scene. Things are hotting up in Kenya. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Kenyan government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) to host the 2020 edition of the NEF Global Gathering in Nairobi. During an event last month in Johannesburg, Alibaba Group founder and...
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Top startup events in South Africa, Africa you should know about this week [24/09/2018]
The biggest startup events taking place on the continent this week are in West Africa. The first is the Lagos Startup Week which since 2015 has brought together the ecosystem of technology agents driving business innovation. Organisers expect over 5000 attendees will attend this year's edition which takes kicks off today (24 September) and ends on Sunday (30 September). The Ghana STEM Conference, the flagship event of Africa Science Week, is a full-day event incorporating keynote addresses, panel discussions and exhibition opportunities for several businesses under the theme "Accelerating Growth and Development through STEM”. The conference takes place this Friday (28 September). In South...
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