Startup competition Seedstars World partners with SA’s Standard Bank

Global startup competition Seedstars World has announced a strategic partnership with Standard Bank in South Africa.

A third time in South Africa, Seedstars World is on a mission to place the spotlight on entrepreneurs from emerging markets. Over the past few years we’ve seen interesting companies recognised through this initiative like the South African fire detection startup, Lumkani, and mobile payments outfit GustPay.

The shortlisted entrepreneurs will pitch in Cape Town 30 June, followed by the final round 17 July in Johannesburg. The winner will be invited to Switzerland in March next year to represent South Africa at the Seedstars World final event and compete for a US$500 000 equity investment prize.

Jayshree Naidoo, Standard Bank incubator head says that the partnership aligns to its commitment to growing the SME sector:

South Africa needs to develop more entrepreneurs as they play a vital role to economic growth and job creation. We understand the issues that entrepreneurs face on a daily basis, especially when it comes to access to market. It is through initiatives like these where we can help entrepreneurs to turn great ideas into reality.

Seedstars World has also partnered with a variety of organisations that will deliver respective services to the event or best performing participating startups. These partnerships include Payfast, IBM, Ignitar, Daddy O and Geist Agency.

“We look forward to seeing how the different startup scenes have evolved in a year and we are excited to discover the new startups in South Africa,” says Alisée de Tonnac who’s the CEO of Seedstars World.

This year, Seedstars World introduces Investment Tracks. Lastminute.com will award up to US$500 000 in equity to the best travel startup overall while Inmarsat and AP-Swiss offering a US$50 000 grant to the best space startup in the competition.