Three Cape Town startups win place at Seedstars World regional final

Three Cape Town startups last night secured a place at the next round of global business competition Seedstars World, after coming out tops at a pitching event held in the city.

The representatives will go on to compete at the next round of the competition at the Standard Bank Auditorium, Johannesburg on 29 June.

Representing Cape Town will be:

• GreenFingers Mobile — A mobile-first SaaS platform to finance and manage smallholder farmers.
• EMG Technologies — Aggregates regional medical content from experts in one app for medical professionals.
• mbora — A solar-powered internet of things enabled sensing suit which provides real-time visibility to any service provider across its network.

Jumpin Rides — A ride-sharing service has won the Public Vote and walked away with a tailored membership to incubation space, Spin Street House.

The winner of the Johannesburg event will go on to represent SA at the finals in Switzerland next year for up to $500,000 in equity funding at next year’s Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland.

Addressing pitching businesses and audience members at yesterday’s event, which was held at Workshop 17, Seedstars World regional manager for Africa Claudia Makadristo spoke of the competition’s previous winners that have come from Africa — including Jammi, a startup providing insurance for a dollar a month. She said she felt a personal connection to the startup.

‘We’re biased about Africa but we see so many amazing startups’

“We’re biased about Africa but we see so many amazing startups,” she said.

The jury for the evening consisted of Makadristo, Quona Capital venture partner Johan Bosini, Brimstone Investment managing executive Mvikeli Hlophe, National Empowerment Fund regional manager Chris Louw and incubation manager at the Standard Bank Incubator Linda Swart.

“It’s incredibly gratifying to work with talent and experience their struggles,” said Vuyisa Qabaka, a Seedstars ambassador in South Africa and a partner at Entrepreneur Traction, when addressing the competing entrepreneurs. He added, “As long as you’re on your journey for the right reasons you’ll make it”.

The South Africa leg of Seedstars World is being held in partnership with Standard Bank and other local partners such as Enel, Microsoft4Afrika, Orange, Merck, TRECC and Deloitte.

Cape Town partners included Workshop 17, Spin Street House, Silicon Cape, New Ventures Studio, Impact Amplifier, ThundaFund and Goodwell Investments.