Khula, Bonang.ai to pitch at AfricArena Summit after winning Jozi, Cape Town events

Joburg based agritech startup Khula and Cape Town-based insurtech Bonang.ai have been selected to pitch at November’s AfricArena Summit.

This, after the two came out tops at two ecosystem challenges, held in Cape Town and Johannesburg on 3 and 10 September, respectively as part of the AfricArena Tour.

The events marked the conclusion of the AfricArena Tour, which began in April and took the AfricArena team around the continent to select a total of 100 startups that will pitch at the summit.

AfricArena 2019 will be held on 11 and 12 November at Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town.

AfricArena 2019 will be held on 11 and 12 November at Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town

During the tour AfricArena visited 12 African cities, including Nairobi, Kigali, Abidjan, Casablanca, Lagos, Tunis, Dakar and Cairo.

The initiative’s founder, Christophe Viarnaud said in a statement yesterday (12 September) that over the past few months the tour had been to the top 10 tech hubs on the continent.

Viarnaud added that the tour had also taken the team to Tokoyo, San Francisco, New York and Vivatech in Paris to showcase the key success stories.

“We have seen that there has been an evolution in the perception of Africa and specifically tech in Africa, which is seen to be the next big thing.

“We decided to host these last two events in South Africa as part of the AfricaArena Tour to provide local startups with a platform. We want to help grow the next generation of African entrepreneurs and advocate for more support in Africa,” said Viarnaud.

In all 24 startups pitched at the Johannesburg and Cape Town events in response to several AfricArena challenges.

These included the SA SME Challenge, Old Mutual Challenge, Engie Challenge, Sanofi Mental Illness Challenge, Sanofi Diabetes Challenge and the Fantom Foundation Blockchain Challenge.

The solutions ranged from pay-as-you-go gas for cooking, a web platform that automates the licencing process, virtual actuaries, a companion platform for healthcare professionals, an app for student support and insurance built on the stokvel concept.

Viarnaud said AfricArena will now hold an Investors Unconference Weekend on 9 and 10 November with 40 investors involved in the African venture capital economy.

“Next year we will continue to scale up the AfricArena Tour with larger events across our circuit and key new initiatives to further fulfil our impact mission to accelerate the growth of African tech startups working with founders, the investment community and innovation teams of international corporates,” he added.

Read more: AfricArena expands world tour to include Abidjan, Cairo, Kigali
Read more: Here’s all you need to know about AfricArena’s tech startup challenges [Updated]

Featured image: Audience and startup representatives at the AfricArena Tour Johannesburg event (Supplied)