South Africa’s management software company Kitchen Manager just stepped off the Traction Bus as the ultimate mobile startup in Gauteng.
Hosted by Startup Edge, Traction Bus set out to find the top mobile startup in Gauteng earlier this year. The purpose of the competition is to connect, expose and celebrate the startup ecosystem participants while giving entrepreneurs an access to resources.
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Gauteng was Traction Bus’ first leg where four hubs were visited and 19 finalists chosen out of nearly 200 applicants. The finalists got the opportunity to travel on the bus, visiting hubs in Gauteng to expose founders to the startup ecosystem.
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Chosen startups ultimately pitched at THUDfest in front of judges that included Alon Lits from Uber, Annie Porter from Edge Growth, Tendai Mashingaidze from Ubuntu Equity, Sam Manclark from JoziHub, Tshepo Molope from Lean Startup Machine Johannesburg and Trevor Wolfe from Springleap.
Kitchen Manager is behind management software for the hospitality that automates and streamlines the ordering and invoicing process between restaurants and suppliers by eliminating human error on the part of the supplier.
“Winning the 2015 StartUp Edge Traction Bus challenge opened up some doors for us in the way of resources, access to markets and some invaluable exposure,” says Kamogelo Sesing, from Kitchen Manager. “The experience also went a long way towards refining how we pitch our software.”
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The top three startups get access to office space, mentorship, vouchers, technical support, and assistance with funding and business support. Coloured Cube and CubeBucks were chosen as the runner-ups.
Traction Bus will travel to Cape Town and Stellenbosch in March next year.