Seedstars World seeks out Lagos startup candidates

Internation pitching competition, Seedstars World, continues their tour around the world in search of the world’s most innovative startups. This time, the event is headed to Lagos, Nigeria on 11 August.

“Lagos has proved itself, time and again to be the leading innovation hub of the continent. The startups who participated on our event last year were phenomenal and we are very excited to come back this year, as we know for sure the bars have been raised and there will be even more amazing startups coming our way” said Associate for Africa, Selam Kebede, in a press release to Ventureburn.

This year’s Seedstars World’s Lagos event will be slightly different than the last as Seedspace and Seedstars’ Academy will be representing the initiative.

“Our mission is to discover startups that come from bustling, emerging economies like Nigeria and give them access to opportunities for support and funding. Specially this year, we have launched our first physical coworking space in Nigeria called Seedspace and the Seedstars Academy where we are constantly striving to add more value to our startups,” says Seedstars’ founding partner Benjamin Benaim.

The event also sees Omidyar Network collaborating with Seedstars for the second time.

“We as ON are excited about the attention and excitement SeedStars has brought to the tech and startup ecosystem in South Africa, and we look forward to continuing this journey into Nigeria”, says Principal at Omidyar Network, Charmaine Padayachy.

So far Seedstars has already racked up amazing finalists from around the world to attend their final in Switzerland to pitch for the grand prize of  US$1-million, and the opportunity to network with some of the world’s greatest startup mentors and business professionals.

Seedstars’ supporting partners, the Swiss embassy, Orange, PayU and the Jacob’s Foundation come together to bring the Transforming Education Prize worth US$50 000 for the best startup in the education sector.

For entrepreneurs wanting to enter the Lagos event, startups need to be less than two years old and raised less than US$50 000 in funding. It is also required to have a viable product with scalable traction. Applications can be found on the Seedstars World website.

Feature image: Jollof Malt via Flickr.