The winners of the nine innovation challenges that took place over the two-day AfricArena conference in Cape Town have been announced.
Startups shortlisted to pitch in the challenge finals duked it out in live pitch battles at the conference’s Battle Arena, in front of different panels of expert judges and investors.
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Winning startups did not take home any prize money. Rather, AfricArena stated in a press release today that the winning startups have the chance to develop establish long-term relationships with corporates, and secure coveted partnerships.
Winners also received a year-long subscription to due diligence dashboard YueDiligence.
AfricArena innovation challenge winners will work with the respective challenge sponsors
The nine sponsors namely: AirFrance, RCS, BPI France, Savca, African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (Avca), Schneider Electric, City of Cape Town, Wesgro, and Leroy Merlin laid out the requirements of the challenges across the different verticals.
In addition, four startups namely The Good Tree, Stockapp, Guardian Gabriel and DataPlait managed to secure spots on the next cohort of the French South African Tech Labs incubator programme.
Here are the other winners:
AirFrance Challenges
GoMetro (South Africa): A mobility-as-a-service platform that provides updated travel information on buses and trains.
WeCashUp (France): Universal payment platform
Leroy Merlin Challenge
Droppa (South Africa): On-demand app for goods and furniture delivery.
RCS Challenge
UFSL (South Africa): Behavioural marketing and user experience design startup focusing on edtech, fintech, the Internet of Things (IoT) and ecommerce.
Schneider Electric Challenge
The Sun Exchange (South Africa): A blockchain-based marketplace where users can buy, sell and lease solar cells.
City of Cape Town Challenge
We do Tourism (South Africa): Online tourist information platform
Best Idea Pitch/NxSE Challenge
Doctor Smart (El Salvador): Online platform that helps patients quickly locate doctors.
The Refiners Challenge
iPay (South Africa): An online payment gateway. As part of the prize, iPay has been shortlisted for entrance into the San Francisco based seed fund programme The Refiners. The startup must now attend one final pitching round before the final cohort is selected for the programme.
Featured image: AfricArena challenge winners (Supplied)
