SBC AfriTech startups have raised €600k and secured 20 pilot agreements [Updated]

Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech participants have been able to secure 20 proof-of-concept, pilot and commercial agreements and collectively raise €600 000 in funding to date, the Cape Town based tech accelerator announced yesterday (8 November).

The announcement was made at a demo day held at Old Mutual’s head office in Cape Town which was attended by over 200 investors and corporate leaders.

During the event, which was held to conclude the accelerator’s second cohort, several of the startups that participated in the accelerator’s 13-week programme announced that they had either secured agreements or were in discussions with corporates, investors and government entities.

SBC AfriTech’s second cohort was comprised of: Akiba Digital, Pago, Brandbook, CredPal, Digitech Group, Inclusive Financial Technologies, Kudimoney Bank, Lüla, MPost, and Prospa.

SBC AfriTech’s second cohort has secured 20 proof-of-concepts, pilot and commercial agreements and raised a collective €600 000 in funding

Among the startups that concluded agreements were:

• Ivorian insurtech Digitech, which announced that it had secured a partnership with the Saham Group, one of the largest insurance companies in West and Central Africa.
• SA mobility-as-a-service platform Lüla which announced it had concluded partnerships with several Cape Town based corporates that will now be using Lüla’s shuttle to transport their employees. The companies include Aurecon, V&A Waterfront, RCS and Old Mutual.
• Kenyan startup Mpost said it was engaged in early pilot discussions in four African countries which include Botswana. The startup has patented a technology that enables any cellphone user to transform their phone into a unique mobile postal address and mobile postal box.
• SA decentralised rewards platform Brandbook, which revealed that its pilot with Unilever has resulted in over 1000 receipts being analysed with transactions amounting to R21-million in 10 days. The startup also announced that it had secured a proof-of-concept with SBC AfriTech sponsor RCS.
• Akiba Digital, which said it had also secured a proof-of-concept with RCS.
• Pago, which announced that it had integrated with Mastercard’s Masterpass API.
• Nigerian fintech Kudimoney, which detailed how it had run a beta version that ended up generating more than $300 000 in goal-based savings for 10 000 people. The startup now has a waiting list of 30 000 users.

Commenting in a statement today (9 November), SBC Afritech co-founder and CIO Zachariah George praised the startups from this year’s cohort.

“This year’s startups proved how important it is to not just be successful, but to be significant, to build solutions above and beyond yourself and your community — to build a legacy,” he added.

SBC AfriTech yesterday also revealed that it plans to work with equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa to link startups that have participated in the accelerator to potential investors on the platform.

Read more: All 10 startups chosen for SBC AfriTech 2018 market ready – accelerator head

Featured image: Startupbootcamp Afritech team with the accelerator’s 2018 cohort (Supplied)

Editor’s note (14 November 2018): SBC AfriTech CEO and co-founder Philip Kiracofe subsequently told Ventureburn in an email that the €600 000 the second cohort raised includes funding the startups raised during the course of the programme as well as the accelerator’s investment of €150 000.

Kiracofe added that a number of the startups that participated in the second cohort are currently actively raising funds and that SBC AfriTech will count funds raised within six months after the demo day as part of the accelerator’s impact.