Global seed-stage competition for startups Seedstars World has kicked off its African tour in Maputo, Mozambique this week where cinema booking site Moovi walk away as the winning company.
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The inaugural event covers a total of 50 countries worldwide and managed 11 startups from Mozambique to pitch alongside Moovi. Runner-up Mozambikes provides branded bikes for rural areas while online shopping startup Compra came third.
Online booking sites seems to be hot in Africa as of late. This week Nigeria’s Hotels.ng announced an international investment worth over US$1.2-million.
Moovi will be flown to Switzerland in February 2016 for the final event where it will stand a chance of winning US$500 000 in equity prizes. Dario Mungoi founder and CEO of Moovi said in a press release:
It’s an incredible opportunity to showcase innovation from Mozambique. Seedstars World is going to come back year after year and see the innovation grow. Personally the win is an amazing opportunity to network and grow and share with my peers everything I learn.
Besides valuable coaching and mentoring, other prizes include a US$500 000 equity investment from hotel booking site lastminute.com for the best travel startup, US$50 000 grant from Inmarsat and AP-Swiss for best space startup.
Head of business banking at Barclays Mozambique Jose Ribeiro was on the jury says that the event is a great showcase of talent in the Southern African country. “I believe that the ecosystem can only go from strength to strength in the years to come.”
Seedstars World’s next stop in Africa is South Africa which will be taking place 30 June. The tour will in the next few months go to Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Botswana.
