Three South African startups chosen for Seedcamp week

South African web startups, Cognician, GetAGreatBoss and iSigned are packing their bags for London.

Seedcamp, the European micro-seed fund that focuses on early stage startups has announced the selection of three South African technology startups to attend ‘Seedcamp Week’ in London from the 13th till the 17th of September.

This is great news for South Africa, having secured three of the 23 available places at Seedcamp week, from the more than 600 teams worldwide that have applied over the year. The Seedcamp finalists 2010 include a wide selection of teams from 16 different countries, active in more than 19 cities.

The South African startups were identified from the 11 who were selected to attend the mini-Seedcamp week that was held in conjunction with the inaugural Tech4Africa conference, which brought a prestigious line-up of international speakers from the world’s most respected web companies to South African shores.

The three chosen startups will now be facing tight competition, since they will be up against a much stronger field of startups for a possible €50 000 investment from Seedcamp, along with the connection to next-generation developers and entrepreneurs from a network of over 400 top-tier industry mentors.

“The South African startups we’ve chosen have unique and original products and offerings,” says Reshma Sohoni, CEO of Seedcamp.

Cognician describes itself as the “original thinking guide” — a software application that automates complex intellectual tasks by asking the user a range of intelligent, thought-provoking questions.

GetAGreatBoss prides itself on enabling great managers to showcase their management strength in order to attract talent and boost their own careers.

iSigned on the other hand, offers secure, permanent online storage, management and sharing for legal and other important documents. It’s the ideal tool for individuals and businesses that want to store wills, legal agreements, investment records and share them with other parties securely.

Sohoni adds that “We do believe that all three of these companies have the potential to go up against a group of international startups for their place in the sun”. She says that choosing from the field of the 11 startups was a difficult task, since Seedcamp was extremely impressed by the quality of ideas presented during the one-day workshop and that each company has the right kind of founder, displaying the perfect combination between hunger and ambition.

Overall Sohoni sees South Africa as a great entry-point into the African continent. “Africa has some of the smartest minds in the world and there’s a ton of potential here,” she added.