Four African startups — two each from Ghana and Nigeria — have been selected for the fifth cohort of the Washington DC-based PeaceTech Accelerator.
The accelerator, which is run by UK-based tech investment firm C5 Accelerate in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, PeaceTech Lab and SAP NS2, was established to scale startups on the cloud and solve problems relating to peace, stability and security worldwide.
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The four startups are Lagos-based proptech Muster, Nigerian talent marketplace Coven Works, Accra-based back-end platform Devless and Ghanaian supply chain platform Jetstream Africa.
C5 Accelerate invests $25 000 for a five percent equity stake in the startups participating in the PeaceTech Accelerator
Other African startups that have gone through the accelerator include South Sudanese games developer Junub Games (from cohort one) and SA music streaming startup Nichestreem.
In an earlier statement, C5 Accelerate COO Eva-Maria Dimitriadis said the four African startups in the cohort are testament to the “strengthening ecosystem” of tech entrepreneurs on the continent.
In all, eight startups have been selected to join the accelerator programme, with the remaining four startups hailing from Pakistan, the US and the UK.
C5 Accelerate programme director Mike Ravenscroft said the cohort represents a diverse group of innovators from tech hubs around the world.
“This current cohort of PeaceTech startups are tackling challenges as diverse as delivering high-tech job training for marginalised youths, to providing blue collar workers access to the digital economy, to enabling small farmers to reach international markets. It’s inspiring to work alongside such a talented group of social impact entrepreneurs,” he added.
Each of the eight startups selected for the fifth cohort fits at least one of seven core innovation themes.
These are: integrity, accountability and governance; countering violent extremism; managing resource scarcity; cybersecurity for stability and peacekeeping; veteran rehabilitation and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) in post conflict countries, refugee protection and assistance, as well as gender violence prevention.
PeaceTech Accelerator’s fifth cohort is currently under away with participants now in the sixth week of the eight week-long programme. During the eight weeks, the startups are supported by a highly-experienced group of international technology entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors and peace innovators.
In addition, as part of the programme, C5 Accelerate invests $25 000 for a five percent equity stake in the participating companies. Applications for the next cohort are currently open. Enter here.
Read more: PeaceTech Accelerator looking for more startups for its next cohorts
Read more: Music streaming startup NicheStreem selected for US accelerator
Featured image: PeaceTech Lab via Twitter
