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Lagos-based digital publisher Publiseer wins Startup World Cup Nigeria finals
Lagos-based free digital publishing platform Publiseer has won the Startup World Cup Nigeria regional final, securing a ticket to represent the country at the competition’s grand finale in the US.
The startup took top honours at an event hosted on Saturday (9 February) by Lagos-basd Passion Incubator.
The Startup World Cup is global startup pitch competition which is held by Silicon Valley based venture capital firm Fenox VC, with a $1-million dollar investment prize. The grand finale is set to take place on 17 May in San Francisco.
The competition is aimed at sought early-stage innovative startups that are close to profitability.
In a statement today (12 February), the incubator said about 100 Nigerian startups applied to pitch at the finals.
Publiseer was founded in 2017 by twin brothers Chidi and Chika Nwaogu
Publiseer pitched against nine other startups at the finals, namely: Natterbase, Edupoint, WellNewMe, Sabi.ai, Spleet, Loystar, Social Lender, Afara Partners and FarmFunded.
The 10 startups were evaluated on size of market opportunity, the degree to which their solutions solved the problems faced by their target customers, traction, revenue model, distribution plan, capital efficiency and the quality of their teams.
A jury panel comprised of Coven Works founder Olusola Amusan, Andela Entrepreneurship Center Manager Emmanuel Adegboye, Novastar Ventures associate director Brian Odhiambo and Microtraction principal investment officer Dayo Koleowo picked the winner.
Publiseer was founded and launched in 2017 by twins Chidi (pictured above) and Chika Nwaogu. The startup helps authors and artists publish and distribute content on online bookstores and music stores.
Publiseer pays its users 25% of their selling price and in turn retains 25% of its clients’ revenue in return for services that include provision of book covers, book formatting, music mastering, marketing and worldwide distribution.
The startup claims it became profitable eight months after inception.
In a statement today (12 February), Publiseer CEO Chidi Nwaogu said the startup was humbled to emerge the winner of the regional competition, and excited to represent Nigeria at the grand finale in May.
“Every startup that competed is amazing and is making great impact and giant strides in their various fields, and that’s why we’re humbled to come on top as the winner,” he added.
Read more: Meet the 10 startups pitching at the Startup World Cup 2019 Nigeria final
Featured image: Publiseer CEO and co-founder Chidi Nwaogu (Chidi Nwaogu via Twitter)
