African incubator Injini — which claims to be the continent’s first ever edtech incubator — has selected eight startups from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and South Sudan to join its first cohort which will kick off on 9 October in Cape Town.
Injini co-founder and CEO Jamie Martin (pictured above) told Ventureburn yesterday said the startups were selected following a pitch event on 8 September. He added that the names of the startups would only be unveiled after the startups have signed contracts on 10 October, at a launch event which will take place at the University of Cape Town.
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The six-month incubation programme begins on 9 October and each of the eight startups will get up to $40 000 in direct funding. In addition, the startups will be provided with support that will enable them to scale their businesses.
Martin said some of the edtech solutions the selected startups are working on include big data analysis, an artificial intelligence (AI) application that allows users to conduct offline searches, chat-bot applications and adaptive learning.
“They all work in low-tech environments and can be used on any phone available across the continent,” he said.
Half of the startups in the first cohort of Injini’s edtech incubator are from South Africa
He said the incubator, which he co-founded with CiTi, had received over 180 applications from which 14 of the best startups had been selected and invited to the final pitch event on 8 September.
The 14 startups which represented six countries (which also included startups from Cameroon) pitched solutions covering all stages of the education sector from early years, primary, secondary to adult education.
A selection panel comprising of eight judges who are experts in edtech, education, policy and entrepreneurship chose the eight winners.
Read more: Jamie Martin on Edtech and the EdTech Open Innovation Cluster
Read more: Startups have less than week to apply for Cape Town’s edtech incubator Injini
Featured image: Injini co-founder and CEO Jamie Martin via Youtube
