Early-stage start-ups can lure investors at Stitch showcase

Early-stage start-ups who wish to showcase their innovations to local and global investors can now apply for a Cape Town-based showcase hosted by payments fintech company Stitch. The annual event, known as the Stitch x Raba Tech Summit, will be held on Friday, 24 February this year.

Stitch chief executive Kiaan Pillay says, “We’re excited to bring back the start-up showcase as part of our annual tech summit in Cape Town. Our goal is to provide a platform for more early-stage innovators to showcase their solutions to our network of local and global investors, and tech founders.

“Last year, attending founders made a ton of valuable connections and saw direct funding outcomes from the event. We look forward to more similar results at this year’s event. Any start-ups, series A or earlier operating on the continent, are welcome to apply.”

This year’s participants will receive a round-trip to Cape Town to present at the Stitch x Raba Tech Summit, as well as pitch support and office hours with members of the Stitch team. Additionally, they will receive six months’ free access to the Stitch solution in relevant markets.

Applications are open now through Tuesday, 31 January 2023. Winners will be selected by Friday, 3 February and then be invited to attend the in-person showcase. Interested companies can apply through the link found here.

Launched two years ago, Stitch now has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. In February 2022, Stitch raised $21 million for its API infrastructure and embedded finance platform. Its flagship solution, LinkPay, is billed as the first in Africa to tokenise financial accounts to enable one-click and variable recurring payments.

Stitch was created to enable businesses to launch products and scale quickly more easily, says Pillay. The team launched its start-up showcase in 2022 to make it easier for early-stage innovators to access the capital, advice, and product support they need to get solutions off the ground quickly and grow products their customers love.

In February 2022, ten early-stage startups presented to over 100 investors and experienced founders and builders at the initial showcase. Participating teams joined the event from South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, and included Sava, Abela, Get Equity, Bettr, Alvin, Paybox, Munch, Feather, Zuberi and Hashgreed.

Several companies received investment from investors they interacted with at the event.

READ NEXT: How to make your business investable