African startups to take on Silicon Valley

This week, five African startups will take on Silicon Valley as part of the 2017 Lions@frica Innovation Tour.

The five startups selected were part of Demo Africa 2016 and will compete alongside local tech startups as well as have the opportunity to engage the startup ecosystem through various activities and events.

“These five startups have been prepared for the tour through a series of learning activities over a two-month long virtual bootcamp,” said the communications manager of the Lions@frica group, Aliesha Balde in a press release.

“We want them to engage the Silicon Valley ecosystem on their own terms, but armed with the right tools and equipped with the necessary resources,” Balde continued.

The fifth edition of the Innovation Tour focuses on knowledge-sharing with local stakeholders as well as various networking opportunities.

According to Demo Africa, over the last five years, their alumni has raised over US$16-million in funding and have continued to advance African innovation on an international scale.

“After emerging as winners from an application pool of over six hundred startups on the continent, we are eager to ensure that these five companies successfully assume an ambassadorial role for African innovation,” said the managing partner of Lions@frica, Stephen Ozoigbo.

“They are re-inventing Africa’s future, and we are supporting their strategic actions to increase their likelihood of success,” he continued.

The selected startups are:

ConnectMed — Is a Kenyan health startup which allows patients to seek treatment from GPs on common ailments using video directly through the web and mobile app.

MediaBox — Is an SA video-on-demand startup which is an aggregation platform that gives its users a quick and easy way to view local and international content, both on-demand and live via the web.

Solstice — Is a Nigerian energy-startup which offers a home multi-energy management and energy control system. The startup uses data from their integrated hardware/software solutions to offer users a clean, affordable and reliable alternative.

Strauss Energy — Is a Kenyan solar-energy startup that produces BIPV Stima solar roofing tiles.

Sortd — Is another SA startup which expands the functionality of your email box by giving users the option to organise their emails as a set of tasks or lists.

Featured image: Patrick Nouhiller via Flickr