10 finalists emerge for Seedstars World Lagos challenge

Global startup competition Seedstars World has revealed 10 Nigerian startups that will pitch their hearts out later in Lagos this week.

The winner of the Nigerian event will be invited to Switzerland where it will represent the country in the final round February 2016. The ultimate wining startup will win up to US$500 000 in equity investment.

With a focus on emerging markets, the Seedstars World challenge is taking place in 50 countries this year. Past participants have raised and estimated total of US$20-million and created more than 360 jobs.

Marcello Schermer, the regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World, adds that the initiative has partnered with Startup Week in order to boost recognition of the country’s exciting entrepreneurs:

“We believe partnerships are an essential element to drive the growth of an ecosystem and we couldn’t have found a better partner for this. Together with Startup Week Lagos we can promote entrepreneurship and elevate Nigerian startups to a global stage.”

Below are the selected Nigerian finalists for Seedstars World:

The Nigerian finalists include Skarabrand, which is a curated ecommerce platform that Nigeria’s 50 million plus internet-savvy consumers can use to review, select and buy a wide variety of affordable furniture from.

Read more: Meet South Africa’s 12 selected startups for Seedstars World 2015

Founder of CowriePay Malik Itopa Sule will also be pitching. CowriePay is described as a payment gateway that allows merchants to easily provide instalment payment plans to customers.

NerveFlo was founded by Silas Okwoche and is simply hailed as the “iTunes of Africa”.

There is also Talentbase, which is a startup that’s building a lightweight and easy-to-use HR & payroll software targeting the estimated 20 million SMEs in Nigeria.

MBills is a web and mobile app that aggregates services for users to conveniently search, view and pay for.

Intellectric is a power solution that seeks to reduce the cost of power for homes and businesses.

Read more: Seedstars World crowns mobile employment service Giraffe SA’s top startup

MyQ is a mobile app that provides queue management, passenger loading and ticketing services to the transportation industry.

Jehiel Oliver is behind Hello Tractor which has developed a low-cost smart tractor connecting their owners with farmers who are requesting timely relevant services via SMS

Somide Olaoye’s Bazar NG is a startup helping businesses increase their sales revenue by promoting their products and reaching out to more customers online.

Food-I-Like is described by founder Biebele Somiari as a quick and easy way to order food online.