Itanna startups from 2nd cohort secure partnerships with banks, corporates

An investment analyst with Lagos-based accelerator Itanna says the three startups that recently completed its four-month programme secured an average of two partnerships each, thanks to support from the accelerator.

The accelerator, which was launched by Honeywell Group last year, held the demo day for its second cohort last month.

The startups that participated in the programme include healthtech GeroCare, edtech Simbi Interactive, proptech E-estate and on-demand automobile service technology platform Carido.

Three of the four startups each received $30 000 investments from Itanna. Carido didn’t complete the programme and therefore wasn’t eligible for any investment (it’s not clear why the startup didn’t complete the programme).

Itanna’s second cohort graduated at a demo day held on 14 November

Itanna senior investment analyst Francis Vesta (pictured above, front row, second from right) told Ventureburn last week that the partnerships the cohort netted emanated from introductions it made with banks, local government councils and leading corporate entities.

“E-estate entered into partnerships with Urban Shelter and the Honeywell Group to provide estate and access control services respectively.

“The other startups have ongoing conversations with potential partners. These are B2B conversations which tend to extend into weeks as terms are fine tuned. However, they were all initiated during the accelerator programme,” said Vesta.

He said during the four months of the cohort, Gerocare grew its individual subscriptions by 12% to 2934 subscriptions, while E-estate increased the number of apartment units in its portfolio by 30 times and saw a 115% growth in revenue.

Simbi interactive grew the number of users signed up to its platform by 200%, to reach 6000 users by the end of the programme.

PowerCube nets funding

When looking at the first cohort, only one of the three startups that participated in that cohort — renewable energy startup PowerCube — has so far been able to secure additional funding.

The two other startups, which he didn’t name, are undergoing due diligence with an investor that was introduced by the accelerator. “We expect the process to be finalised in Q1 2020,” added Vesta.

Redesigned curriculum

He explained that since its first cohort, Itanna has redesigned its curriculum to focus more on addressing the individual needs of each startups, as opposed to offering generic weekly classes as the accelerator had done previously.

“The curriculum was customised to allow for more frequent feedback sessions and ensured our team was able to track the progress of each startup as they optimised their business models and technology while positioning for product market fit,” he said.

Itanna, Vesta said, is looking to launch a new cohort next year. He said the accelerator’s programme will still be sector agnostic and that Itanna welcomes “promising and innovative ideas” from all verticals.

Read more: Nigeria’s Itanna accelerator to invest total of $120k in four startups from second cohort
Read more: Nigeria’s Itanna accelerator startups secured eight partnerships says head
Read more: Honeywell Group launches Lagos-based Itanna accelerator and investment vehicle

Featured image: Itanna’s second cohort (Supplied)